Snapshot
by Max and Liz believer
Summary: It started with a pacifier. Liz Parker might have just been a toddler, but the war was nevertheless on. Would they ever declare peace or would they go on fighting forever?
1. Seven Minutes with the Enemy

**Title: Snapshot**

Author: Josephin

**Category:** AU M/L

**Rating:** MATURE

**Disclaimer:** This story is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

The characters of Roswell belong to is founder - Jason Katims, Twentieth Century Fox Corporation, Regency Entertainment, and Monarchy B.V.

**Summary:** It started with a pacifier. Liz Parker might have just been a toddler, but the war was nevertheless on. It did not help matters that her sworn enemy, the pacifier-thief, became best friends with her big brother, forcing them to occupy the same areas on more than one occasion. Would they ever declare peace or would they go on fighting forever?

**Author's note:** I did not plan on writing any more stories for a while. I'm in my last year of becoming a veterinarian and my schedule is crammed with diagnoses, drug properties and surgeries. But the second I decided to go on a hiatus from writing fanfiction, I was bombarded with inspiration for a new story. I've been writing on this story on and off since December, because I wanted to have enough material so I wouldn't leave you high and dry.

This story is supposed to be fairly uncomplicated (compared to my other stories). It's snapshots of Max and Liz's lives, having more or less grown up together. And then of course, there's the undeniable background noise that is Max and Liz. Since it's snapshots, it will jump in time. But I'm going to be very specific in dating the chapters (in terms of supplying Max and Liz's ages) and will try my best to not confuse you. If I do, let me know, okay? And I'll sort it out.

**Dedication:** This story is dedicated to the people over at Roswell Playground, for being a constant support in my life nowadays and for encouraging me to start posting this.

**A special thank you** to Elizabeth (Gigo) for beta-reading. You're the best and I can always count on you.

**Feedback:** No objections there

--

**Prologue: Seven Minutes with the Enemy**

Ryan Anderson's closet  
Saturday  
(2001) Max is 16, Liz is 15

Liz squeezed up against the wall as his warm body struggled to occupy the same small area in which she was currently trapped.

"Max!" she exclaimed as his foot stepped on hers. "You're stepping on my foot."

"Sorry," he mumbled. He fumbled in the dark after something to hold onto, but he seemed to only come up with warm skin against his hand.

"Stop groping me," she whispered harshly, making him smirk in the darkness.

"You wish," he said, earning a well-positioned smack from Liz across his chest.

"I can't believe you got me into this. God, how did I end up in here with you?"

"Come on, Lizzie. At least it's not Pervy Perry."

He didn't have to make out her features in the darkness to visualize her eyes rolling skywards at his statement.

"Whatever."

There was a pause, their soft breathing seemingly magnified in the silence. Sounds from the party outside drifted through the wooden door, emphasizing once again why they were here.

Max's voice broke the silence. "They can tell, you know."

"They can't tell," she said, pure mockery in her voice.

"Your lips get swollen."

"They won't get swollen."

"How do you know? Is there something I should know, Shorty? You haven't been getting close and personal to Sean have you?"

An irritated scoff escaped her lips. "As if I would let him get anywhere close to me."

"Sooo… If there's no one else, how do you know?"

"Because," Liz said stubbornly, hating the one-worded statement as soon as it left her mouth. That statement alone was enough to sum up her meager age of 15. Could she sound more childish?

"When you kiss…" a shiver raced through Liz as Max voice got darker and she could feel the air shift around them to accommodate the increasing closeness between the two. She frowned at her own reaction, wondering what Max was up to. "…more blood will flow into your lips, making them swollen and red."

His body pressed into hers and her breath hitched in her throat as anticipation trembled through her body, quickly followed by the innate reflex to push him away. Which she did.

"Max Evans," she said with noticeable warning in her voice. If there had been enough room she probably would have pushed her index finger into his chest to further emphasize the scolding tone in her voice. "If you think that you're gonna lay one hand on me…"

She could feel his breath on her face as he spoke slightly above her face. He had always been almost a head taller than her. "They're gonna talk, Lizzie. You know they will. Remember Cathy? That's gonna be you tomorrow. You're gonna be labeled the prude one and that label is gonna stick."

Liz had never been afraid of moving against the stream. She had never been one to seek out attention or approval from society. She moved in her own world and followed her own rules. But still, even though she didn't really care what anyone else thought about her, she had seen the effects of being labeled.

Looking up at the boy she had known since he had stolen her pacifier when she was one year old, she mentally shrugged, thinking that it could've been worse. She could've been stuck in a closet with Pervy Perry.

"Fine," she grumbled. "But for the record, I'm doing this to save your ass so they don't think you've lost your sex appeal."

Her eyes had finally gotten accustomed to the lack of light and she could clearly see the smirk forming on his face. "Would never happen."

She sighed. "Whatever."

Max raised an amused eyebrow at her strong disinterest before leaning in. Liz found herself looking up at him again, her body suddenly tensing in nervousness. Reality had just hit her. Max Evans was going to be her first kiss. Max Evans. Of all boys. She sighed again, wondering who she had wronged in a previous life to deserve this fate.

His voice brought her back to reality. "You're looking a bit flushed, Parker."

"Shut up," she whispered, her nervousness suddenly having given away to insecurity as another thought had coursed through her ever so busy mind.

Max had kissed a lot of girls. He had, against her will, personally told her about three of those girls. He had experience. She didn't. The last person Liz wanted to feel inadequate in front of was Max. It was known to anyone who knew them that Max and Liz had always been in a constant battle with each other, about everything. If she sucked at this, Max would possibly never let her live it down. He would quite possibly sing it at the top of his lungs while dancing across her grave.

"Relax," he said softly, which actually made her do just that.

"You better do a good job so that they will believe us," Liz threatened, her last word drowned in the touch of his lips against hers.

Liz didn't dare to move. What was she supposed to do? Was she supposed to move her lips? How did people do this? She always thought it would come naturally and sort itself out, but there was nothing in her body telling her right now what to do. And it was a lot wetter than she thought. And softer.

His chuckle sent vibrations against her lips, causing her to smile in response at the sensation. That was more like it.

"God, Parker. Help me out here. You're like a fish!"

He barely got the last word out before he was shoved as far away from her as possible. Which wasn't very far considering the lack of space.

"Get off me," she bit out, his words stinging her.

His hands were quickly on her arms. "Hey," he said gently, but the laughter was still evident in his voice making her pout even more prominent. "Sorry. Didn't mean it like that. You just… Just go with it, okay?"

"This is stupid," she whispered, frustrated beyond belief as she felt like crying. No way was she going to throw a prissy fit in front of her arch nemesis. "I never should've come to this party. I never should've walked downstairs. Of course you were going to lure me into a stupid game. Of course I was going to end up in a closet with you, expecting to make out. It's all just soo typical. How could I not see it? It's just my lu-"

His lips cut off her babble and this time, she let herself sink into the kiss. She let his fingers melt against her cheeks as he cradled her between his hands, guiding her mouth against his. She met his movements with strokes of her own and it only took a few seconds before she stopped thinking about it and just felt.

Felt how good he tasted. How warm he was as he pressed up against her. How soft his lips were and how almost gentle he was when he kissed her. She never knew that the guy who usually would tackle her to the floor to get the last potato chip in the bag could harbor such gentleness.

But then he began to nibble her lips with his teeth and she went from dreaminess into something completely different. Something was building up inside of her. A hunger. A hunger that could only be stilled by having him kissing her. More and more.

And then he pulled away.

A soft groan of protest swept across her lips and her hand rose to her lips in a reflex motion.

He had an odd look in his eyes as he regarded her. It made her so self-conscious that she had to avert her gaze.

"Do they feel swollen?" he asked, his voice oddly husky which made her miss a breath.

"Wh-" she had to lick her lips, feeling almost dazed. "What?"

"Your lips," he clarified and her face heated at his words.

She had just kissed someone. More than that. She had just made out with someone.

He continued to look at her closely, his gaze penetrating. Then he appeared to shake it off and a grin slowly spread across his face. "You did good, Parker. You weren't all that bad."

His words slammed her back into her own body and she glared at him. "Gee, I'm glad I didn't disappoint."

They both jumped in fright as someone pounded hard on the door.

"Pull your pants up! Time's up!"

Max raised an eyebrow and looked at her expectantly. "I hope your brother didn't hear that. He would kill me."

"If Mike heard that, he would be ripping down the door right now," Liz said.

Max nodded. "Yeah. Maybe we shouldn't tell him that we…uh…you know."

She rolled her eyes. "Kissed? God, Max. I thought I was the one embarrassed about this. You can't even say the word."

"I just kissed Mike's little sister. It's not exactly something I would go around and brag about."

She swallowed back the hurt. His words normally didn't get to her, but for some reason those stung more than others.

"I think Mike's gonna find out anyway. It's not like the whole school won't talk."

"Maybe," Max said and shrugged. "At least I can blame it on the game."

He ripped the door opened and Liz blinked at the sudden brightness.

Yeah, at least he could blame it on the game.

TBC...


	2. Rich Damsel in Distress

**Ga-4-ever** – thanks!

**Sweet like chocolate** – Is Vetmed the same as veterinary science? Because that would be really cool. If you're studying to be a vet as well. I don't have much time to write, no. But the more school work I have to do, the more I tend to procrastinate (I'm sure you recognise this) and that's basically why I end up writing stories. Besides, if I didn't have this hobby I would probably go insane with all vet stuff. Thank you so much for your comments and good luck with your second year.

**Adambrodylover** – Thank you!

Let's see what's going on in Max and Liz's life 7 years after the closet incident, shall we?

Btw, things that have happened in the past are alluded to in this chapter. This is a snapshot that is yet to come. These snapshots will not be in strict chronological order.

**1. Rich Damsel in Distress**

The Apartment  
Sunday afternoon  
The Present; Max is 23, Liz is 22

"I'm bored."

Max Evans raised an eyebrow and looked over at his best friend's sister, slowly tracing her very shapely legs from the tips of her toes as they touched the wall to the miniscule denim shorts she was wearing. His eyes traveled further down her body to her face, which was turning slightly red from all the blood that was rushing to her head due to her rather upside-down position.

"Watch some TV."

As if that was the most ridiculous suggestion ever, she expelled an extended, "Nooo."

"Eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"Go shopping."

"I'm broke."

Max rolled his eyes and went back to reading his magazine. "Right."

Silence.

Liz Parker groaned. "I'm sooo bored."

Max sighed. "Just find something to do instead of bitching about it."

"I don't know what to do," Liz whined.

A very confusing mixed feeling of irritation and amusement went through Max. He had been having a lot of those lately, where he couldn't quite pinpoint his relationship to Liz.

He felt like snapping at her at the same time as kissing her senseless.

He shook his head, trying to shake off the thoughts, and forced himself to return to the magazine.

A soft thump had him looking at her again, now finding her rolling off the couch. He felt a familiar heat flow through him as he watched her straighten her top and smooth her hair back. The way she had been lying, with the soles of her feet planted against the wall, her hips pressed into the soft cushion of the couch and her head hanging over the edge of the couch, had made her face really flustered. That combined with her tousled hair had Max swallowing loudly.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer."

"Huh?" Max met her eyes, seeing the merriment there and immediately backtracked.

She just smiled sweetly and walked up to look over his shoulder. "Porn?"

"Funny."

"Like you don't have it under your bed."

"Have you ever looked under my bed?"

"Of course."

He frowned. "Why would you do that?"

"The best secrets are hidden under people's beds."

"Are they?"

He stared at her lips. She was so close.

Noticing where his eyes were directed, she inched even closer and slowly licked her lips. If he had been looking into her eyes, he would've seen the mischief in them.

His fingers itched to touch her. Just one time. Just to see if she was still as soft as he remembered.

"Max…" she breathed.

"Uh-huh," he whispered back.

"I'm bored," she said in the same tone of voice and then pulled back, a grin on her face.

He held back a groan, not wanting to give her the satisfaction. "Study."

She laughed. "Is that your solution to boredom? Max, that sucks. You suck."

"What do you mean you're broke, anyway? You're never broke."

"None of your business," Liz bit out.

Max huffed. "Er…okay."

"Mom cut my allowance."

Max's eyes widened. "Seriously?"

Liz walked into the kitchen, but Max still had a full view of her from where he was sitting on the TV-table.

"She wants me to take responsibility for my life. I need to get a job. Need to earn my own money. Blah blah blah."

She looked up just in time to see Max struggling to stop himself from laughing.

Her body tightened. "It's not funny, okay?!"

Max smiled broadly. "Awww…poor little rich Elizabeth Parker."

"Shut up."

"You're gonna have to get a job like the rest of us mortals?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Get your hands dirty… Oh no." His eyes widened with feigned shock. "What about your nails? They're gonna break."

"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up." She said, her voice rising with every repeat as she walked closer to him.

"Whatever will you do?" Max continued. "No work experience. Waitressing? Cleaning? Maid?"

The attack was accompanied by a growl, causing them both to fall to the ground, Max's body buffering the fall. Liz repeatedly hit Max's chest with her balled fists, causing Max's laughter to eventually come to an end.

Reaching up, he tried to catch her falling fists in his hands. "Hey hey hey. Calm down."

He caught her fists and inadvertently pulled her closer to him. She glared at him, her eyes glistening with tears of anger.

"I hate you," she whispered through clenched teeth.

He gave her a soft smile. "What's with all the hatred, kitten?"

"Can't you hang out at your place? Do you have to be here the whole time?"

"Ouch," he grinned. "I kinda get the feeling I'm not wanted here."

She delivered a cold smile. "Nothing gets past you, does it?"

"I thought you'd want some company."

"Right. Like that's the reason you're here. Out of the kindness of your big bleeding heart."

He raised both eyebrows, pretending to be impressed. "Sarcasm, Lizzie? You _are_ growing up."

"Fuck you," she mumbled and tried to get off his body, which she was still straddling.

"Will you?"

She rolled off him with a frustrated, "Ugh" and made a show of straightening out her clothes, wiping his smell off her or whatever she was doing. Max wasn't really sure.

He turned on his side, supporting his head in his hand as he watched her with amused eyes. "Need a hand?"

She sighed loudly. "Could you stop being gross for like a second? Is that possible? Can you do that?"

Max laughed. There was nothing more fun than to annoy Liz Parker. She just got so…aggravated.

"I was talking about getting a job, Lizzie. What were you talking about?"

She calmed down, pushing the hair back from her face. "If you're pulling my leg-"

"I'm serious, kitten. Do you need help or not? I have contacts."

She scrunched her nose up and Max smiled inwardly. He knew what was going to come out of her mouth even before she did.

"If you for a second think that I'm going to work in that greasy, sweaty, foul-smelling bar you call a workplace, you're sadly mista-"

"I know people in more places than the bar business."

She bit her lower lip, seemingly carefully considering his words. "You're serious?"

He sighed dramatically. "I just wanted to help. But _obviously_-"

Ignoring him, she asked, "You would do that?"

For me?

The words were never spoken but still floated between them.

Max face softened, the smirk easing out and he said quietly. "Of course."

She frowned. "Uhm…okay… Thanks?"

He chuckled at her confusion. "You're welcome. But you know…it'll cost you."

Her face hardened and she started shaking her head. "I don't need your help."

He got up from the floor and walked up to her, causing her to take an unconscious step backwards.

He smiled at her and watched her face soften. "Kidding…"

She had the chance to feel relief for a second before something – someone – smacked her on the bottom.

She opened her mouth to protest, only to find Max walking away from her.

Mumbling curses under her breath, Liz turned in the direction of her room.

Yes, it was just another Sunday in the apartment.

TBC...


	3. Strange Comfort

Sorry, I've kinda forgotten to update the story on this page. So I'm gonna update all the chapters I've updated so far in other forums.

There is a timeline with the order of the chapters (since it starts to get a bit confusing after a while), but I still haven't really figured out how to post urls here.

**2. Strange comfort**

Roswell High School  
Thursday noon  
(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17

Liz stepped out into the sun and spotted Max sitting at his usual place by the large tree. Walking up behind him, she watched the shadow from her shape fall over his sunken body and stated tonelessly, "So…you've been avoiding me."

Normally she couldn't care less if he was around or not. Normally she actually preferred if he was very far away from her. But Michael had lent Max her CD player about a week earlier, much to Liz's alarm when she was informed of this little trade, and he had yet to return it. She needed her music. She lived for her music.

And she was convinced that the reason Max was dodging her in the halls – everywhere really – was because he had either lost or broke her valuable CD player.

She stared at the back of his head, her eyes burrowing through his skull, trying to reach into his head to uncover whatever clues there might be to where he had hid her possession.

He didn't reply.

Didn't even acknowledge her presence.

Firmly planting her hands on her hips, she bit out, "Did you break it?"

"Leave me alone."

His reply was low, spoken without a single movement on his part.

He was slowly, but surely, pissing her off. "What have you done with it? It's not yours, you know."

"Fuck off."

She squeezed her lips together. "Don't you speak to me like that."

He sighed and said tiredly. "Just leave, Parker."

Taking a firm grip on the strap of her backpack that was hanging off her shoulder, she walked around him to face him. He was staring into the ground. Nothing in his hands. Just sitting. And staring.

Liz frowned. There was something really odd about this picture. She mentally shrugged it off.

"I want my CD player. And I want it now."

He didn't answer and she was just about to start yelling when he looked up at her. Complete with glistening red eyes.

She choked on the words she had been planning to say.

"I really don't care about your fucking CD player," he said evenly and she swallowed.

Was he crying?

Why was he crying?

She had never seen him cry.

Never.

Except that time when his dog died. They had just been kids then. Max had cried. A lot.

Oh no…

Did someone die?

"What's wrong?"

Her concerned soft voice had him dropping his eyes back to the ground.

"Nothing."

She fell to her knees in front of him, not really sure why she did it before she found herself bending her head underneath his to force him to look at her.

"Max-"

He snapped his head away from hers, scooting backwards. "What the hell, Parker?"

She bit her bottom lip to stop herself from exploding on him. This was one of those times her mother just to refer to as 'delicate'. Her mother had on several occasions informed Liz of her tendencies to speak before she thought about it. She was always trying to say how inappropriate it was to react to people by yelling at them and how 'sometimes you have to swallow your anger'.

"What's wrong with you?"

He pushed himself up along the tree, getting to his feet. "Take a hint. I don't want to talk to you."

"Believe me, I would rather not talk to you either, but I'm not gonna fucking leave you here if you're…upset or something."

Max continued to avoid her eyes as he picked up his backpack. "Whatever."

She placed a hand on his elbow to stop him and jumped in surprise as he swirled around, looking at her with hot angry eyes. "Fuck, Parker! Go and annoy someone else for once!"

With that he turned and walked away with long fast strides, leaving Liz staring at his back with her mouth hanging open.

--

**The Parker's Residence  
Three weeks later  
Wednesday Evening**

"You're not Mike."

Liz jumped at the sound of his voice and then quickly composed herself to glance over at the window where Max was in the process of climbing over the window sill.

"Give the man a prize," she grumbled under her breath as her eyes returned to her brother's CD collection.

Where had he put her Lifehouse CD?

"Where is he?"

She squinted her eyes and moved closer to the CDs. She must've missed the CD somewhere. It had to be there.

She inhaled sharply as an arm curled around her waist. "Wh-"

"Where's Mike, Lizzie?"

Not wasting a second, she spun out of his arms and glared at him. "What are you doing?"

He sighed, dropping his arms along the sides of his body. "I just want to know where Mike is."

"He's not here, okay."

Her gaze fell onto something that was reflecting light on the nightstand and she quickly breezed past Max to snap up her Lifehouse CD from the wooden surface.

"Where is he?"

Her back facing him she rolled her eyes. "How should I know? I don't really keep track of him."

Not caring if he left or stayed, she walked out of the room, moving down the hallway and entered her room. She turned to close her door but stopped abruptly as Max appeared in her doorway.

"Eh…get out of my room," she said in a voice that clearly stated that he should know by now that he was not welcome in her room.

"What are you up to?" he asked casually, stepping closer to her.

She automatically took a step back. "None of your business."

Instead of responding with a smart comeback, which he would normally do, Max stilled and just looked at her. Liz met his gaze stubbornly. Whatever game he was playing he was not going to get the chance to even for a second _think_ that he had won.

Because this had to be a game. It always was with Max Evans.

She swallowed deeply as he brought his fingers to her face, slowly sliding them down her cheek. "You're quite pretty, Parker."

She frowned and was just about to inform him of how much she didn't appreciate whatever game he was playing when he continued, "When did you grow up?"

She scrunched her nose. "Have you gone completely mental on me?"

He took another step towards her and this time she didn't move backwards. She would have if she had been able to, but at some point during the conversation, his arm had moved around her body.

This put them very close together.

His eyes remained fixed on her face and she could feel the heat rising up her cheeks from his undivided attention.

"Could you please-"

His index finger landed on her lip, silencing her. "Shh… You talk too much."

Her breath caught in her throat as she stilled beneath his touch. "Max?"

He pressed his thumb against her bottom lip, tracing its contours, his eyes following every movement of his fingers.

Her eyes slid closed against their own will and she unconsciously leaned into him. The memory of him kissing her in ninth grade invaded her thoughts and the sudden urge to have him kiss her again flooded her senses.

As if reading her mind, Max murmured, "You tasted so sweet."

Without opening her eyes, she whispered, "Please…", not being completely sure what she was asking him for.

"Miss Liz? Are you up there?"

Liz ripped away from his hold at the voice of the housekeeper drifting up the stairs. Standing two feet away, she stared at him with heaving chest and racing heart.

He stared back.

"Miss Liz?"

She swallowed and answered without letting him out of her sight, "I'm here, Gabriela."

She bit her lip as he once again closed the distance between them.

Gabriela's familiar Mexican accented words drifted up the stairs, "Dinner ready, querida."

She shivered as his hand curled around the back of her neck and whispered, "What are you doing?" before softly gasping as his soft wet lips touched the side of her neck.

She knew that she was supposed to pull away. She didn't know what was going on. She was supposed to ask him for an explanation, not let him attack her.

His lips slowly moved down her neck, partly dragging, partly kissing, partly sucking. But as his hand moved to push away the neck of her sweater and the underlying bra strap, she pulled away from him.

"Evans, what are you doing?"

Something flashed in his eyes and he straightened his back, a coldness drifting across his face. "Fuck Parker. Just try and enjoy it for once."

Her heart rate sped up, now for a completely different reason. Her cheeks flustered to another nuance, feeling the heat of anger crawling into her vessels. "Enjoy it? You come in here and practically attack me. And you ask me to _enjoy it_?"

"What's the problem, Lizzie?" he asked casually. "I thought you wanted this. The way you've been following me around these last weeks… You shouldn't lead a guy on if you can't follow it through, Parker."

Liz stared at him in disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about?! I haven't been following you around. You're completely delusional."

She startled as he grabbed her arm, a wild look in his eyes. "It's dangerous to be a tease."

She tried to pull out of his grip but he held firmly. Meeting his eyes with a firm warning of her own, she bit out, "Let go of me."

He was acting different. Sure, they were always in a feud with each other, but he was never physical with her. He never scared her. He was always overbearingly overprotective of her.

"You should've just let it go, Lizzie."

"Let what go?" she asked through her teeth.

"But you kept prodding. And prodding. And prodding."

There was something in his eyes that told her to be careful. But on some instinctive level she also knew he wouldn't hurt her. She pulled hard on her arm to get away from him, which only resulted in him pushing her up against the wall.

Her elbow hit the wall. "Ow. Max!"

Their breaths intermingled in the darkness of her room, both agitated for their own reasons. Then his lips crashed down on hers.

There was nothing gentle about the kiss. It was hot and demanding, just like his hands as they fisted her hair to pull her even closer – if possible.

She whimpered under his assault, her body falling into his.

And she tasted the alcohol he had been drinking.

And things started to make more sense.

Until the energy of his kiss simmered down and a restrained sob sifted through the air. She frowned. Her lips stilled and ceased to meet the movements of his kisses.

"Max?" she whispered against his lips.

He was soft now. Gentle. Tender. His fists had lost their ferocity and were languidly sliding down her face, tracing the angle of her jaw.

But he wouldn't stop. A hollow desperation remained in his touches and she slowly started to move with him again. Kissed him back. Caressed his lips just as he was caressing hers. But as her thumbs drifted along his cheeks and stroke the tears away, he pulled away from her.

Before she could see his face, he had turned his back on her.

She stood there staring at his back, tasting the saltiness of his tears on her lips as she tried to figure out what to do.

"What happened?" she asked her brother's best friend.

She could see the shake run through his body, but there was no sound. No answer. No sign that he had even heard her.

"Ma-"

She jumped as he hit his fist into the desk. "_Fuck_!"

And she started thinking of where her cell phone was. Because this might be over her head. She had never met this emotional Max before. She might have to call Michael.

Just as she was about to reach for her phone on the bed, his soft voice broke through the silence. "She told me three weeks ago."

She swallowed. Okay. It appeared to be sharing time. "Who?"

"Mom."

She took a deep breath.

This was going to be bad. This was going to be bad. She just knew it. What else would have gotten the always so calm and collected Max Evans so completely out of control?

"What did she tell you?"

"Cancer. The doctors called it a glioblastoma multiforme. Brain tumour."

Liz's breath hitched and a tear slid down her cheek.

No.

Please don't.

"Apparently," his voice cracked, "it's very bad."

"Max," Liz whispered.

He turned around to face her. His eyes red and wet, with glistening cheeks. He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to keep his voice steady. "It's very very bad."

She was crying now as well as she stepped up to him and put her arms around him. His arms were tight around her body, his tears warm and wet against the side of her neck. "She's dead, Lizzie. She died."

Her hold on him tightened, feeling his anguish as if it was her own.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. I didn't mean… I don't know what's wrong with me."

She shushed him, threading comforting hands through his hair. "Don't. Just don't. I'm so sorry, Max. I'm so sorry about your mom."

"Hey man."

Max and Liz slowly pulled apart and looked at Michael standing in the doorway, wearing a sad face.

"I just heard."

Max wiped his face of the tears, not meeting Liz's eyes.

"You want to go for a drink?"

Liz was just about to say that he could stay here, when Max beat her to it. "Yeah."

Liz blinked away the tears hanging off her eyelashes and looked up at Max. But he was not looking at her.

Without another word, Max left the room, leaving Michael and Liz alone. "Thanks for that, sis. I didn't know he would come here. Then I would've been home."

"He thought you were here," Liz said.

Michael frowned. "That's odd. He knew that I was working tonight."

"Oh…" Liz straightened. It didn't mean anything. It was not like Max had come to see her. He was drunk already. He probably just got his facts mixed up. "Um…he must've forgotten. He was a bit drunk when he got here."

Michael grimaced, imaging all the fights Max very likely had picked with his little sister before he showed up. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Just don't let him drink too much. He… He just needs someone to talk to."

Michael gave her an odd look. "It actually sounds like you care, sis."

He couldn't have hurt her more if he had slapped her. "His mother just died, Mike. What kind of heartless bitch do you think I am?"

He walked up to her and pulled her protesting body into his arms. "Hey hey. Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I was just a bit surprised to see you comforting him, that's all."

"I might not like him, but I do care for him," Liz said against his shirt.

Yes, that sounded weird even to her ears, but it was the only way she could explain it. Max Evans had the power to make her want to hurt him, but she would fight to her last breath to stop anyone else from hurting him.

The only one who was allowed to hurt Max Evans was Liz Parker.

TBC...


	4. Playing with Playboys

**3. Playing with Playboys**

The Apartment  
Thursday night  
(2007) Max is 22, Liz is 21

_You should ask Max for his VIP-card_

That's what Maria had told her. As if it would be the easiest thing in the world. As if it would just be a matter of walking up to Max and politely ask him if she could borrow his VIP-card.

Sometimes she wondered what Maria was on.

No way was she asking Max for his card. She knew exactly what would happen if she did. He would cross-examine her until he knew exactly what she needed it for and when he would find out that she needed it to get close and personal to Brad Matthews he wasn't going to let her borrow the card anyway.

Because what Maria never really got was that there was something about Max and whatever boy Liz was interested in. Just the mention of the male sex had Max turn into this impossible overprotective character, even worse than her brother.

No. No way was she asking Max for his card.

But that didn't mean she wouldn't get the card. Because Elizabeth Parker had a plan. Yes, siree.

And the plan had seemed flawless until she found herself standing over the sleeping body of Max Evans. Her eyes slowly traveled over the well-defined muscles of his naked back, down the tanned arm that was hanging over the edge of the couch. Her breath hitched as her eyes fell on his large hands and memories of what those hands were capable of entered her mind.

Taking a deep breath, her eyes fell on his face, on how his head was half-way over the edge of the couch, his mouth slightly opened and the unstoppable thought that he was even sexy when asleep crept into her mind.

Frustrated with herself, she angrily shook her head and started to look around for Max's discarded jeans. They were thrown over the TV-table and she quietly made her way over, carefully picking them up. Quickly glancing over at Max to check his level of consciousness, she started going through his pockets in the search of his wallet. It was not really tricky to find.

With a smile of triumph she pulled it out and began to go through it in search of the card. Her smile grew as she fished out the desired card and was just about to put the wallet back into the pocket when fingers grabbed around her underarm.

She jumped in fright and snapped her head towards Max to find him completely awake and staring at her.

"Max," she breathed, moving the hand that was still holding the card behind her back, discreetly pushing the card into her back pocket.

"What are you doing, Liz?" Max asked calmly, the huskiness of sleep making his voice sound dangerously intimate. There was darkness in his eyes that made a shiver run through her.

"I…uhm…" she desperately licked her lips, being thrown off by being in such close proximity to him. His fingers around her skin were burning. "I saw a…cockroach."

Max arched an eyebrow. "You saw a cockroach?"

Liz nodded slowly. "Uh-huh. And it ran into your clothes."

The corner of Max's mouth twitched with amusement. "Aaand…?"

"I wanted to get it out, so you wouldn't get an unpleasant surprise in the morning."

Max looked at her intently, making her feel like she wanted to fidget. She took a deep breath and straightened her back. Max was not going to get the truth out of her by just staring at her. Just because he was more or less naked under that blanket and was no more than three inches away from her, didn't mean that she wouldn't be able to use her normal tactics to get out of this.

"I thought you hated cockroaches," Max stated.

"I do," Liz said simply, wondering what his point was.

"You usually run in the opposite direction. You don't go _after_ them."

Liz felt her face grew hot as a smug spread across his face. He knew. He knew that she was lying.

She narrowed her eyes. "What are you saying? That I'm lying?"

He shrugged causally, his smug turning into a knowing smile. One of those slow smiles that seemed to caress his face. "Just seems a bit odd, kitten. You're not even holding any bug spray in your hand. What were you planning to do once you found the cockroach?"

"Chase it away," Liz said firmly. "Geez, Max. Is this the gratitude I get for trying to help you out?"

"You want gratitude?"

Liz raised her chin defiantly. "That would be nice."

In one smooth movement, Max took a hold of her waist and pulled her into his lap, her thighs falling down on each side of his body.

She stared at him in shock. Her body was desperately trying to remember how to breathe while her mind was busy trying to think of something to say.

She felt his hands on her bottom and gasped as he applied pressure and pushed her lower body up against his. She stared at him, her mouth having gone dry as his hand entwined one of the dark strands of her hair between his fingers, his eyes firmly locked with hers.

"What are you doing?" Liz whispered, her voice sounding foreign to her.

He let go off her hair and slowly feathered a finger down her flustered cheek. "I'm showing my gratitude."

"Huh?" she partly whispered, partly moaned.

The grin on his face told her that he had heard it. "Are you okay? You look a bit…" he traced his index finger across her upper lip. "…warm."

"I'm serious," she got out. "There was a cockroach."

Max leaned in, his breath softly caressing her ear as he whispered, "Sweetheart, you never were any good at lying."

Her eyes fluttered closed with a restrained sigh and she unconsciously arched into him as his hands moved down across her shoulder blades and downwards, his large hands molding over her ass.

Then he suddenly pulled away. Liz blinked.

"Did you find the cockroach?" Max asked, his face calm and collected.

She nodded and swallowed. "It ran away just before you woke up."

"Aha," he nodded. He took a deep breath. "Okay, well…" Taking a hold of her waist he easily lifted her off his lap and sat her down on her feet next to the couch. "Then I'm just gonna go back to sleep."

Liz stared at him. She knew that he knew she was lying. Was he just going to let her go?

"Uhm…"

He smiled lazily. "Or did you want to join me?"

She blinked. "What?" Her mind felt oddly muffled.

He patted the space next to him with a suggestive raise of his eyebrow.

It was the smirk on his face that kicked her back into character. She straightened with a huff. "In your dreams, Evans."

She started to walk away, saying over her shoulder. "And just so you know. This is the last time I'll ever try to help you again."

He didn't reply, but for some reason she was one hundred percent certain that the smirk was still on his face. She shrugged it off and quickly made her way down the corridor to her bedroom. As soon as the door closed behind her, she put her hand into her back pocket to retrieve the card.

Only to find it empty.

She frowned and put her hand in the other back pocket, in case she had mistaken. But that one was empty as well.

Anger began to build inside of her as she realized that Evans had played her the whole time. That last part, him pulling her close and touching her and all of that crap, had all been an act to pull the card out of her pocket. He had known the whole time.

She balled her fists up and started to take deep breaths. It was really not a good idea to run out there and yell at him. That would declare him the winner.

With more force than needed, she ripped the sheet away from the bed. She hated him. She hated him so much. But he couldn't stop her. She would do anything to get close to Brad Matthews. If Evans thought she was going to give up this easily, he didn't really know her at all.

--

**The Crash  
Saturday evening; two days later**

Her heels made sharp sounds against the pavement as she walked up towards the night-club, her red-painted nails flashing in the air as her hand-sized purse moved back and forth with her steady movement. Even before she reached her destination, she had managed to turn a couple of heads, something that she was very well aware of and satisfied her to no end. If Brad Matthews is able to resist her tonight, he should seriously re-consider his male status.

The bouncer nodded to her at the door. "Miss Parker."

She gave him a glittering smile. "Joe."

"You're looking stunning tonight," he said, giving her a toothed smile. One of few.

She brushed away some tendrils of hair that fluttered across her face in the soft breeze. "Thank you."

"Are you here for Brad?"

She smirked. "Who else."

He shook his head at the determination in her eyes. It wouldn't surprise him if she got exactly what she wanted tonight. She was dressed for it. "Have a good night, Miss Parker."

She smiled again and with a "thanks" she stepped into the semi-dark club, the heat from the already dancing bodies enveloping her like a tight glove. The music was as loud as ever, but there was definitely more people than ever there that night. She had to elbow her way through the crowd to get to the bar.

She smiled happily at the bartender. "A bloody Mary."

He raised his eyebrow at her. "You're drinking tonight, Lizzie?"

"Remember, it's your job to serve me. I'm not under age and I'm not drunk. I'm a paying customer so…"

Michael shrugged. "Whatever."

Liz turned her back to her disapproving brother and scanned the crowd.

"On the prowl?"

She rolled her eyes at the voice before turning around. Feigning surprise, she exclaimed. "Max!"

She had a whole sentence on the tip of her tongue but it vanished as she took in his appearance. He looked absolutely…yummy. Dark green shirt with the two top buttons unbuttoned and a black jacket covering it, giving him a very causal – but sexy - appearance.

He smiled at her, which made her stomach feel all funny. "Didn't expect to see you here tonight."

She narrowed her eyes. "Really? Why?"

"Well…" he said slowly, as if tasting the words. "I thought the…umm… misadventure last night would've discouraged you from coming."

Liz licked her lips, feeling her face heating up from a whole different reason than just a second ago. Taking a step closer to him, so that their nose tips were almost touching, she placed a hand on his hip, moving up under his shirt. Catching his eyes and with fascination watching his eyes darken, she said, "I have other ways of getting what I want."

She pushed her foot backwards to step away, but Max's hand on top of hers stopped her. He pulled her hand out from underneath his shirt and brought her hand up to his mouth. She could feel her heart beat hard in her chest as her eyes watched his lips brush against her knuckles and she felt the texture of his warm and soft lips against her skin.

"You look beautiful," he said in a voice so soft it should have gotten lost in the sound level of the club. But for some reason Liz didn't miss one word.

Something felt warm in her stomach and she nervously licked her lips. Taking a deep breath she pulled her hand out of his grip. "Thank you."

He looked at her for another couple of seconds before he straightened up, his whole demeanor changing in front of her eyes. "So…you're here to see Brad, huh?"

Liz shrugged. "See, dance, whatever he wants…"

Something flashed in Max's eyes, before he grinned at her. "Ah, so you're planning to get a bit personal with him?"

She winked at him as answer. He seemed to ponder this for a second, before he leaned in towards her. She resisted the urge to lean back from him and remained completely still. His lips brushed against the side of her cheek, just in front of her ear, sending electricity down her body.

"Too bad you don't have VIP-access," he whispered.

She turned into him, placing a feathery kiss on his cheek. "That won't stop me."

Pulling away, she couldn't help but smile at the look in his eyes. Boys were so predictable. With just a few simple words she had him thinking just what she wanted him to think.

But as he continued to look at her, his eyes trapping hers, she started to waver in her conviction. The air around her seemed to heat up and somehow the simple task of taking the next breath seemed to have turned difficult.

"Why are you doing this?"

She swallowed. Her mouth felt dry. Her voice wavered and cracked slightly as she spoke. "What do you mean?"

She sighed as his finger caressed the side of her cheek ever so tenderly. "Just be careful."

She swallowed again and tried to muster up a strong smile. It was difficult, with him looking at her all serious and concerned. "I learned my lesson."

She was referring to another time, another place, but he knew exactly what she meant. And she somehow suspected that might be why he was worried all of the sudden. Because of what happened that last time.

"Hey Max-" the couple broke apart and Liz looked up at Max's boss as he came around the corner. Seeing Liz, he smiled. "Oh, hi Liz."

"Hi," she greeted.

"Looking fantastic tonight," the tall strongly built man said appreciatively.

Liz smiled. "Thank you."

As Tom turned his attention back to his employee, Liz scanned the inside of the club. If possible, the bar had filled up even more since she walked in. It was going to be a big night.

--

_Five hours later_

"Oh fuck."

Brad stilled on top of her for a couple of seconds before rolling off her, his breathing heavy and his body sweaty.

Liz closed her eyes, closing in the tears that were stinging her eyes. Why wasn't she happy? She had gotten just what she wanted. She had wanted Brad Matthews. She had wanted him to notice her. And he had.

He had spotted her in the crowd, dancing to his music. He had smiled at her as she had walked up to him in the break between two of his sessions. He had kissed her hand, much the same way as Max had done just two hours earlier, when she had praised his music.

As she had leaned into him and kissed his cheek after he had given her an autograph, he had whispered into her ear to meet him backstage in twenty minutes.

So she had. And one thing had lead to another.

Now all she could think about was Max. As her own sweat dried on her skin and her tears ran slowly down her face, with a practical stranger falling asleep next to her in a hotel bed, she wanted Max to be there. She wanted Max to be the one sleeping next to her. She wanted him to be whispering sweet nothings in her ear. She wanted _his_ hands to caress every inch of her naked body.

Soft snores filled the room and she looked over at the man that had his face half-turned into the white pillow and tried to swallow back the nausea.

She felt dirty.

She had enjoyed it at first. Had enjoyed having the complete attention of a male. Enjoyed knowing that he was interested in her, without having to try to figure out underlying meanings. Without having to put a friendship at risk.

No strings attached.

But with each piece of clothing removed, she lost a piece of herself. She had shivered as he had touched her naked skin. He had probably taken it for desire. To her it had been coldness. She had squeezed her eyes together as he had thrust into her, her nails digging into his back with the desperation of wanting to get away.

He hadn't forced her. But she hadn't been willing either. She just hadn't informed him of her doubts.

On weak legs she got up from the bed and quietly pulled her clothes back on. Without a look back, she left the hotel room.

--

_Twenty minutes later_

She opened the bathroom door, not realizing that the light was shining out from underneath the door which should've told her that it was occupied, and came face to face with Max.

He blinked at her slowly and it only took two blinks to tell her that Max was not completely sober.

"Lizzie," he said with a big grin. "You're up late."

Avoiding his eyes, she started to back out. "Sorry. I didn't know anyone was in here."

"S' okay," he said brightly. "We can share."

"You're drunk," she said, stating the obvious.

She could feel his eyes on her as she stubbornly stared at a spot on the tiled floor. "Nah… Well…maybe just a little bit."

Feeling the sudden urge to smile, she bit her bottom lip and instead shook her head, while fixing her gaze on something just behind Max's head. Looking at him, but still not.

His hands grabbed her arms and before she could blink he had pulled her back into the bathroom. "C' mere."

"I-I need to shower."

He smiled. "Go ahead."

She made eye-contact long enough to glare at him. "Without you in the room."

"Come on…" he pouted. "I won't look."

She couldn't believe she was actually considering it, but looking at Max's rather uncoordinated ways of putting toothpaste on his tooth brush and really really needing that shower right now, she didn't see much of a choice.

"Can't you brush your teeth in the kitchen?"

He met her eyes in the mirror above the sink as he started brushing his teeth.

"I whoas here farst," he announced around a mouthful of toothpaste.

"Max…" she whispered, looking longingly at the shower.

She could still smell him on her. She shivered.

"Ow was you nite?" Max continued. "Any suschess wid Batt?"

Liz sighed. She really didn't need this right now. Turning her back to him and pretending to be busy with putting her hair up, she squeezed her eyes tightly together.

Don't cry.

She balled up her fists to fight for some control and heard him gurgle behind her. Then two strong warm arms encircled her waist from behind. Lips pressed against the top of her head and she bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

Don't cry.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

How could he be drunk and still notice that something was wrong?

"I just…need a shower," she forced out between aching lips.

His arms tightened around her and a tear ran down her cheek. "Long night, huh?

Her voice trembled slightly as she answered. "The longest."

"Poor thing," he whispered against her hair and she basked in the soft breathy nuance of his voice.

Then his arms were gone and coldness enveloped her. "I'm going to bed."

She nodded, turning only half-way to see him walk out the door. "Okay."

She locked the door behind him and slowly peeled the clothes off her body, tears running silently down her cheeks. As she stepped into the water in the shower, her sobs were drowned in the sound of the constant flush of the water.

Feeling empty, she dried her body with an oversized towel before wrapping it tightly around her and stepping out into the dark corridor to walk the five feet to her room.

It was not until she had pulled on some cotton shorts and a top, and went to crawl down into her bed that she noticed that the bed was not empty.

She sniffled with gratitude as she looked at him, his mouth slightly open and snoring softly, and for once she thanked the gods for Max's inability to walk to the right bed when he was drunk.

She crawled down beside him, torn between moving close to him or remaining on her side of the bed. He made the choice for her as he put an arm around her and pulled her against his body.

"Hey baby," he whispered, half-asleep. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled, pushing some strands of hair off his forehead. "You're in my bed, silly."

Without opening his eyes, he returned her smile, "Oh. Okay," and placed a leg across one of her legs, trapping her next to him.

But she didn't have a problem with that. None at all.

"Do you want me to kick his ass?"

She looked up to see his eyes observing her seriously. She swallowed and tried to smile. "No."

She let her eyes wander across his face, her heart aching for some reason she wasn't quite clear about yet. When he didn't say anything, she buried her face into shirt, breathing in his familiar smell.

"Did he hurt you?"

"Why do you assume that it's a guy?" she asked into his shirt.

His hand slowly caressed her arm, causing shivers to run through her body. Shivers of the kind that she had been trying to get with Brad earlier.

"Because only boys will upset you like this."

"I'm not upset."

"Okay."

She looked up at him, finding him still looking at her. "Why can't you be a normal unobservant drunk like the rest of us?"

She wanted to hide tonight. She wanted to find solace in his arms, bury herself in his warmth, no questions asked.

"Alcohol can't stop me from seeing you."

Her heart clenched and her eyes stung. Why did he have to say things like that? Looking up at him, she only acted on impulse as she reached up and softly touched his lips with hers.

His lips were warm and inviting, tasting like him and alcohol. She pulled away before she was ready to do so.

He looked at her carefully, his gaze appearing to be clearer, more like the sober Max she loved to hate. "Liz…?"

"Thank you," she whispered, her eyes silently pleading him to not push it.

He regarded her silently before pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Get some sleep."

She nodded and curled up against him. Sleep came easier than she had thought that night.

TBC...


	5. Swimming with the Sharks

**4. Swimming with the Sharks**

Kevin Marster's Residence  
Saturday evening  
(2004) Max is 19, Liz is 18

"Man, this party rules!"

Max's eyes landed on the hand that had clamped down on his shoulder and followed it up towards a shoulder and then a face. Will Richards.

He shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

"Where's the booze?"

Max sighed. That guy was definitely high. He made an uncommitted point in a general direction, causing Will to laugh triumphantly and walk off.

"Hey Evans!"

Max turned towards the voice and saw one of his teammates making his way towards him. "Hey Jones."

Mark Jones placed a beer bottle on the table Max was leaning up against. "Isn't that Parker's sister?"

Max frowned and turned his head into the direction Jones was looking. Coming out from the house, a beer bottle in her hand, was Liz.

"She sure grew up nicely," Jones said, but Max was not listening. Within seconds he was standing next to his best friend's sister.

"What are you doing here?"

Surprised at the voice, she looked up at him, but relaxed when she saw it was him. "I'm pretty sure this party had an open invitation."

Max pulled the beer bottle out of her hand. "You're 18. This is a college party."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I'm allowed to be here just as much as you are." He was after all only one year older than she was. "Stop treating me like a child, Max."

"Does Mike know you're here?"

"He's with Maria."

"He would kill you."

"He's not my father."

Max narrowed his eyes. She was acting very much out of character. "Why are you doing this?"

"Can't I have some fun for once?"

"Go bowling. Watch a movie. Play some Playstation."

"Funny." She straightened up and pushed past him. "Now, leave me alone."

He grabbed her arm. "Just watch what you drink."

She turned fiery eyes to him. "I can take care of myself, Max."

He watched her walk away, his fists clenching at the sides of his body. She was being more annoying than normal.

The party continued around them and Max caught up with some of his friends. By midnight, the party had taken a turn. Voices and laughter had gotten louder. People were sleeping in the beach chairs next to the pool. Some girls were swimming topless in the water, with some very attentive guys at their beck and call. Some people were throwing up in the bushes and some were in lip-lock, slowly moving to music they didn't really hear.

Max had been keeping an eye on Liz on and off since their first encounter, but towards the end of the night, he had lost track of her. It had been about an hour since he had seen her last and he was starting to worry. He wanted to brush it off. He wasn't her keeper. If she thought she was old enough to take care of herself, let her. He wasn't going to stand in her way.

But he couldn't quite shake the feeling that she was getting into trouble right that second. And speaking of Liz…

"Dude, did you see Parker? That's one fine piece of-"

The guy was interrupted by a hand taking a firm hold on his collar and pulling him into the side of a hard body.

"Hey-" the guy tried to object, but Max's hard voice interrupted him.

"Where is she?"

The guy's face brightened, happy that he would be the one to deliver what he knew. "Oh, man. She's asking for it-"

Max tightened his hold on the guy's collar and growled, "Where is she?"

The guy's face fell. "Dude. Chill." He hitched his chin into the direction of the pool area. "She's over there, in the hot tub."

Max let him go so quickly that the guy stumbled backwards into the house wall. Muttering under his breath, the guy walked off to more fun adventures while Max stormed off into the direction of the hot tub.

He didn't recognize her at first. Her face was bent to the side, her lips being devoured by the lips of the guy sitting next to her. As far as he could tell, she had been wearing a bikini, but the top was gone and only the humble foam from the hot tub was providing some sort of privacy. The guy getting lucky next to her did not grant her the same privacy. From what Max could tell, one hand was most likely covering one of her breasts and the other was not visible, but Max had a fair idea of where it was which only made him quicken his steps.

"I suggest you let go of her right now."

The other people occupying the pool looked up in surprise as Max appeared next to the tub, surprised at the barely contained anger they could hear in his voice. Max Evans was far from a calm person, but he always managed to present himself with a coolness that was bordering on admirable.

No one except Michael and Liz had really seen him lose his temper.

The guy kissing his friend's little sister hadn't heard him though. The guy sitting next him, took one look at Max's dark eyes and elbowed his friend in the side. "Dude."

The guy pulled away from Liz's lips and gave his friend an irritated look. "What?"

His friend hitched his head into Max's direction, causing Liz's pursuer to come face to face with Max's stoic face.

"Let her go," Max said as he met the guy's eyes. His voice was dangerously cold.

The guy, a little bit too intoxicated for his own good, looked over at the girl he had been making out with for the last twenty minutes. Her eyes were closed, her body leaning into his. He smirked at the sight. She sure was something.

"She's fine, isn't she?" he said. He looked up at Max, a smug on his face. "But that shouldn't be a secret to you, Evans."

"Take your hands off her," Max said slowly, his face cold.

The guy, whose name Max would later learn to be Zach Davids, pulled Liz closer watching Max's face closely with a grin as he was doing so. "Not into sharing, Evans?"

You know when you fill up a glass with water; if you go one drop too much, it will swim over. But not just that drop will swim over, a lot will go over the edge. Zach placing his hand back over Liz's breast was that drop too much for Max.

The people in the tub that night learnt that Max Evans doesn't really explode. He implodes. Instead of yelling and punching the guy, he calmly walks up to the tub and leans down close to Zach's face. The inverted explosion was evident in the dark shimmering of Max's eyes as they stare into Zach's.

"If you don't let go off her right now, I will personally see to it that your life becomes a living hell. I will let every girl at school know just exactly how you treat women. I will let your parents know how you spend your time outside of their home. Just give me the chance and I will see to it that you will never get laid ever again, that you will be suspended from school and will at most be getting a job at the cheese factory."

Max pulled back slightly, taking a hold of Liz's upper arm and pulling her away from Zach's body, his eyes never living Zach's widened ones. "If you ever even look at her again," there was no question of whom he was referring to, "believe me, I'll know."

Keeping one hand around Liz's arm to stop her from slipping under the water, he pulled his T-shirt over his head, much to the surrounding girls' appreciation.

With a tenderness that was quite opposite the venom that had just been directed at Zach, Max positioned Liz's body slightly more upright so that he could slip his T-shirt over her head. He didn't care to put her arms through the sleeves, he just wanted her covered up as quickly as possible.

Turning back to Zach, he asked slowly, "Is that clear?"

Zach nodded dumbly.

Max tightened his lips together, the anger boiling inside of him screaming to get out. But he wasn't going to lose it. The need to beat this guy into a bloody pulp was close to suffocating him, but his worry for Liz was taking priority. Her slack body was worrying him. She had either drunk herself into a stupor or she had been given something that wasn't quite alcohol. Date rape drugs were well-known on these college parties.

He pulled her slightly up from the tub, ensuring that her bikini bottoms were still on and whispered into her ear. "Kitten."

She sighed, her eyes opening slightly. A slow smile spread across her face and she tried to raise a hand, but found it trapped inside Max's large T-shirt. "Max…"

"We're going home, okay," Max said softly, his voice intended for her ears only.

But her eyes were closed again, her head feeling heavy against his chest.

He took a firm grip around her shoulders and pulled her up from the pool, the water running off her. The T-shirt he had dressed her in only a few minutes earlier was soaked, plastering rather indiscreetly to her front.

Placing one arm in the bend of her knees and the other one across her back, he hauled her up against his chest.

"What did she have?" he asked the occupants of the pool, feeling the water from Liz soak into the top of his jeans and wet his bare chest.

"Uh…" some guy murmured uncommitted.

"She's almost unconscious," Max said between gritted teeth. "_What_ did you give her?"

"Nothing, man," another guy piped up. "She was like that when she got here."

Max clenched his teeth. "Now you listen to me. You're fucking gonna tell me exactly what she had or-"

A girl interrupted him. He recognized her from high school as one of the girls that used to run after him. Pam Troy. "She was doing jello shots."

"Just jello shots?" Max asked. Liz was dead weight in his arms and he was worried that she might've been slipped a drug.

"Lighten up man," the same guy as previously said. "She's just wasted."

Afraid that he might not keep that control on his feelings much longer, Max left without a word.

They had to stop on the way home for her to throw up. After that she started to become slightly more coherent.

"I'm cold," she mumbled into the seat she had her cheek pressed into.

He had found a blanket in the car which he had handed to her earlier but the T-shirt she was wearing was still slightly damp.

"Maybe you should remove the T-shirt-"

"Yeah right," she said weakly and Max rolled his eyes. Even half-conscious she was being stubborn.

"Lizzie. The wet shirt is keeping you cold. You have the blanket. It's not like you'd be naked."

_And it's a little late to be modest with probably half the people at that party having seen you half-naked,_ Max added silently in his head.

"I'm cold," she repeated, looking like she wanted to melt into the car seat if that was able to give her any heat. "Where are we?"

"Five minutes from home."

Silence enveloped them for a while. He kept watching her out of the corner of his eye, getting increasingly irritated at the fact that she was shivering but was still not making any attempts at removing the wet T-shirt.

"Look. Whatever's underneath that shirt, I've seen it. Now, just take it off before you catch pneumonia."

He could feel her stare at the side of his face. "What do you mean, you've seen it?"

His grip tightened around the steering wheel. "It was not like you were hiding anything when I found you."

If he had been looking straight at her, he would've noticed her face growing pale. Her voice gained some strength as she repeated. "What do you mean?"

"You don't remember?"

"Max, what did I do?"

"You acted like the irresponsible brat I knew you were gonna act like."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. Every emotion that had ripped through him as he had been staring down the people just observing her getting assaulted in the hot tub had culminated and had just been waiting to get out. That time was now.

He was met with silence.

"I didn't see you all night and when I did, I got to see some guy feeling you up while you were just sitting there!"

Maybe that was the core of the problem. He had always admired Liz for her feistiness, for her ability to stand her ground. It was one of the things he liked about her. To see her reduced to what every second girl in high school would do was a disappointment.

"What was I doing?" Her voice was soft, her face turned away from him, gazing unseeingly out the window.

"Apparently checking his tonsils with your tongue."

"I don't remember…"

"How many shots did you have, Elizabeth?"

Liz bit her lips tightly together, wanting to prevent the tears from falling down her cheeks. She felt awful. The fact that she still wanted to throw up and she felt dirty and cold wasn't the main thing. No, it was the disappointment and disgust in Max's voice that was making her feel the worst.

"I can't remember."

"How could you be so stupid-"

"Get off my fucking case, okay!" she exploded, tears spilling over and running down her face. She stared wildly at his profile, her whole body tight with hurt.

"No I won't!" Max yelled back, the car swerving slightly. "You could've gotten hurt! What if someone had raped you?! Do you have any idea what could've-"

"Don't you think I know that," Liz cried. "For once I just wanted to do something that little Liz Parker wouldn't do. I wanted to do what everyone else was doing-"

"What? Getting drunk and screwing someone?"

"You've done it," she bit out.

He took one sideway look at her, before slamming the breaks, causing the car to swerve to the side of the road. Liz barely had time to react before Max was out of the car and had ripped open the passenger door.

"What are you doing?" she asked, trying to hold onto the strength in her voice, but something in Max's eyes was frightening her.

He reached across her, unfastened her seat belt and grabbed a hold of her so that he could turn her to face him.

"Yes, I've screwed around. A lot."

That something in his eyes, that wilderness, stopped her from interrupting him.

"But I would never have sex with a drunk girl. _I_ might be drunk at the time, but if she wasn't coherent enough to know what was going on, I was not interested." He pushed the blanket down her shoulders, revealing the semi-dry T-shirt that had dried in a cascade of wrinkles. "That guy at the party. He was ready to fuck you right there. In front of everyone. He didn't care that you were barely there. He didn't care that there were other people there. He didn't have any respect for you at all. When you're _that_ drunk, Lizzie, guys will do anything to you. _Especially_ to you."

He took a hold of the bottom of the T-shirt and pulled it upwards. She stared at him with wide, glistening eyes as she folded her arms across her chest to shield herself from his eyes.

"Do you know what they used to say about you at school? You were like this fucking trophy. Whoever could nail you…" he grimaced, remembering the numerous occasions he had walked into the middle of X-rated conversations about Michael's little sister in the guy's locker room. "That's because you would never give it up to just anyone."

He blinked and seemed to see her for the first time since the start of his rant. Tears were silently rolling down her cheeks, the skin of her upper arms where her fingers were grabbing to provide a shield over her naked breasts was white with the force, and her whole body was trembling.

His chest was heaving with the anger that was quickly dying down. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down and then cradled her cheek in his hand. His voice was softer as he added, "At least that's what I thought, before today. Maybe I just don't know you as well as I thought."

She started crying in earnest at his last words, but instead of trying to find solace in his arms, she pushed him away from her. She reached behind her, feeling Max's heated eyes on her the whole time, and pulled the blanket up over her back and across her shoulders; wrapping it around herself.

She brushed the tears away from her face and spoke with grave seriousness. "Thank you, Max. I'm really…" she swallowed, finding it hard to get over her pride, "…glad that you were there tonight." Taking a deep breath, she looked him straight in the eye. "But I don't need a lecture. I wanted to have fun-"

He snorted. "You call this fun?"

Ignoring him, she continued calmly, "-and now I've tried that. It's not your place to tell me what to do and how to do it. I want you to stop trying to control my life. I'm not that little six-year-old that used to run to you for a Band-Aid when I scraped my knees. I need to make my own mistakes."

"You sure have a backwards way of doing it," Max grumbled.

"Just take me home."

He stared at her for a second or two, before straightening his back and walking back to his side of the car. As he turned the key, Liz added, "And don't tell Michael about this."

He gave a sarcastic huff, shaking his head in disbelief. "Oh, don't worry. I think Pam Troy is going to let everyone of importance know just what happened."

He didn't have to look at her to see her eyes widen. "_Pam Troy_?"

"It's always fun to have fun, kitten. But then you'll have to deal with the consequences."

Liz tightened the blanket around her and slid down in her seat with a frown on her face.

"The secret, sweetheart, is to not get caught."

She turned just in time to see him wink at her and a small smirk pulling at his mouth, and she knew that they were back to normal. The story of their lives. They would have a blow-out and then just like that, it would be over.

"Great," she mumbled into the blanket and closed her eyes.

TBC...


	6. Ears, Wine and Virgins

We are now jumping back in time again. To a time when Liz had yet to screw up; before jumping into bed with strangers and getting ridiculously drunk.

Who knew that Max Evans would be the one to introduce her to alcohol?

Yeah, we're not really surprised, are we?

Here we go

**5. Ears, wine and virgins**

Michael's Bedroom  
Friday evening  
(2002) Max is 17, Liz is 16

Liz giggled. "You have really funny ears."

Max frowned, offended. "Do not."

Liz smiled broadly, staring hard at his ears. "Yes, you do!"

"Shut up."

"They're completely sticking out of your head." She cocked her head, fascination smoothening out her facial features. "I can see the sun through them."

"Can we please not talk about my ears?"

She inched closer to him, a large smile on her face as she leaned over him where they were lying next to each other on the bed. "They're not that bad. It makes you look cute. In a funny way."

Max's eyes widened as he looked up at her with a fuzzy mind. "You're calling me cute? _Cute_? Don't you know that a girl should never call a guy 'cute'? Besides, do you have any idea of how many women would love to be lying where you're lying right now? Next to this handsome man."

Liz snorted. "Puhlease. Women? Right. Sluts."

"They're not sluts."

"Someone that sleeps with someone they barely know after being around them for a total of fifteen minutes is a slut."

"It's just the power of my incredible charm."

Liz laughed. "I think it's more about the fact that you're not butt ugly and the girls settle for you because they're horny."

"So…" Max wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "You don't think I'm butt ugly, huh?"

Liz looked at him incredulously. "_That's_ what you got out of what I just said?"

Max grinned. "I think you're finally warming up to me, Parker."

Normally, she probably would have a very good comeback at this point, but the alcohol in her blood was muffling her cognitive functions.

She frowned. "Could you turn your head?"

He squinted back. "Huh?"

"Your red ears are distracting me."

"You're a mean woman, Parker."

"Oh, so now it's my fault that you have such weird ears?"

"I thought we decided to get off the ear subject."

"You decided."

"Right. So…."

"Where's Mike?"

The eternal question.

Max frowned and tried to turn his head to look at the alarm clock on the night stand. But realizing just how much effort that involved, he gave up half-way and looked back at Liz with a thoughtful expression. "How long has he been gone?"

Liz rolled away from him onto her back and mumbled. "I have no idea."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You're asking permission? That's new."

"Is this the first time you've been drunk?"

"I'm not drunk."

"You're voluntarily lying next to me on a bed."

As if considering this, Liz paused before she answered. "That's true." Turning to face him again, she added. "You're actually not that bad when I'm drunk, Evans. You look better, somehow."

"I'm not really sure how to react to that…"

"Is there more?"

Max smiled, thinking that she was talking about him. "There's always more."

She frowned, not really sure what he was getting at. "Of the wine."

His smile faltered, in that confused slightly muddled sort of way that usually accompanied sluggish trails of thoughts. "Eh. There should be one on your side."

She turned her head to the other side and scanned the floor. "I can't see it."

"It should be there."

"You probably have it on your side."

"No."

"Have you checked?"

"No."

"Then check."

"Should be on your side."

Then he decided to reach across her to be able to see the floor on her side just as she was reaching down over the edge of the bed to search the floor with her hand. Her rather imbalanced position plus most of his weight suddenly draped across her back had her loosing her completely losing her balance and before they really knew what had happened they were both on the floor.

"Ow." Liz tried to push his weight off of her.

Their lack of coordination had them moving around in a failing mass of limbs which in the end just had them ending up in about the same position, out of breath from the struggle.

They simultaneously stilled and looked at each other, Max on top of Liz, his eyes drawn to the fascinating play of shadows crossing her face as the sun set outside the window.

It was in this position that Liz went into sharing mode. "Billy wants to take the next step."

Max tensed. "What?"

"Apparently he's not happy about us just making out anymore."

Max briefly wondered if this girl had any idea that she should not be talking about sex when she had a very virulent young man lying on top of her, before he said dumbfounded, "Are you going to ask me about sex?"

Liz shrugged. "It just seemed appropriate. This just made me think of it."

He stared at her with his mouth hanging open for a second before he started laughing.

Her eyes darkened with irritation. "What?"

Max shook his head slowly. "Seriously Lizzie. You're one of a kind."

Without missing a beat, she said seriously. "I'm a virgin."

That put an abrupt stop to his laughing and he said slowly, "Parker, I really don't think-"

"I'm scared."

The topic of conversation was slowly but surely bringing Max out of his intoxicated state. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to get Liz Parker drunk after all.

"About what?" he asked carefully.

"Sex. Having sex."

He sighed and rolled off her. "Right." He scrubbed his hands down his face as she slowly sat up opposite him.

"What if I'm not doing things right?"

He leaned his head into his hand. He couldn't look at her right now. For some reason this conversation put an ache in his chest. "Jesus, kitten. Why are you asking me this?"

"I need to do it eventually, right? I need to have sex eventually. What if I never have the guts to? Does that mean I'm gonna be a virgin for the rest of my life? That I will never know what it feels like?"

Max had slept with two girls, but having this conversation still had the ability to make him blush. Didn't she have any girlfriends to talk about these things with?

"Don't you have any other friends you can talk to about this?"

"I'm asking _you_," she said and looked at him almost expectantly.

"I can't really… you know… I can't give you a woman's…perspective," Max said, desperately searching for the right words.

"Have you ever been with a virgin?"

"Riight," Max said slowly and tried to rise from the floor. "No more alcohol for you."

"I'm serious," Liz's voice drifted up from her position on the floor. "Will it hurt?"

"They didn't really share that with me," Max said, starting to walk around the room to find something he could do to distract her away from the topic.

"So they were virgins?"

He looked at her and for the first time noticed her distressed eyes. Right there and then he decided to be frank with her. "One of them was."

"Did she tell you anything?"

"No, I kinda just gave her time," Max said slowly. "She let me know when we could…uhm…continue."

"What am I supposed to do? I mean, what do you like a girl to do?"

Max sighed loudly. "Christ, Lizzie. Could we please not talk about this?"

She looked at him silently for a couple of seconds, before dropping her head into her arms that she had folded across her knees that she had pulled up against her chest. "What if he's disappointed with me?"

At her muffled question, Max walked up to her and dropped to his knees in front of her. Without a word he folded his arms around her body and pulled her close, her legs separating them from complete closeness.

"I don't know much about a girl's side of this thing," he said, breathing in the fresh smell of her hair as he leaned his head on her shoulder, "but I think that if you're so worried about if he's going to be disappointed, you shouldn't do this. It's probably not the right person or the right time. Your first time should be with someone that you feel completely comfortable with and you don't have to worry about those sorts of things. It will just sort itself out."

"It's just so embarrassing," she mumbled. "I don't think I'll ever get used to the thought of taking my clothes off in front of anyone and having anyone touching me."

He pulled away from her and smiled at her softly, tenderly pushing a strand of hair off her forehead. "You'll be fine. They're gonna have to earn it, okay? You shouldn't sleep with someone just because he demands to. He should work for it."

She smiled brightly, tears glittering in her eyes. "You're a really good girlfriend."

He laughed softly, shook his head and said warmly, "You're an idiot."

She matched his laughter and then to his surprise pulled him into a tight hug. Against his ear she whispered, "You're my best friend, Max Evans."

"Whoa, kitten. You really _are_ drunk."

"Shh… it's a secret. No one is supposed to know. Especially not you."

"About the drinking or you loving me and wanting to have my children?"

Liz let go of him just in time to see the grin on his face, but the alcohol was still having a warm, fuzzy effect on her, preventing any possible indignation, and so she smiled. "Both."

TBC...


	7. The Many Uses of Ice Cream

**6. The Many Uses of Ice Cream**

The Apartment  
Friday evening, mid-February  
(2005) Max is 19, Liz is 18

"You want me to get it?"

"Nah, I'll do it."

Max wasn't one to argue and gladly put his feet up on the TV-table, nodding in agreement. "Okay."

Michael grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter and was half-way out the door when he turned, asking for cash which forced Max to search his pockets. Finding a scrunched up ten, Michael grabbed it and was out the door, leaving Max to himself.

Well, not completely.

Her feet barely made a sound as she walked down the hallway to the kitchen, but he still knew that she was there.

Max looked up from the TV and wordlessly watched her walk into the kitchen, which was merely an extension of the open-planned living room. His eyes travelled down her form as she bent over to look over the contents of the refrigerator. She was wearing miniscule shorts, which she had picked out because she thought they were cute, without having the slightest clue to how it affected his male mind.

"Need help?" he asked, smirking as she slightly jumped in surprise.

He could hear her intake of breath before she slowly turned around, smiling at him politely. One of those smiles that always aggravated him.

"I'm quite capable, thank you."

"Oh, I can see that."

Her face fell slightly and he could almost see that busy brain working away at what he meant. The second she caught onto his sexual connotation she smiled at him sweetly.

"How about you go back to doing what you do best? Drink, watch sports and scratch yourself."

His eyes widened in invitation. "Actually! I have an itch-"

Liz's face scrunched up with disgust and pressed out with utter distaste. "Yeah right."

"You didn't have a problem with it before."

He knew that he had hit a nerve when she without another word turned her back towards him again and ripped open the freezer door. And it bothered him.

As she pulled out the chocolate fudge ice cream, he placed the beer bottle on the table and sauntered over to her. She closed the door to the freezer and to a causal observer it might seem as if she wasn't aware of his presence, but Max could read her like an open book. How her body tensed up all over, with every step that further decreased the distance between them.

"Are we ever going to talk about it?"

Liz sidestepped his hand as he attempted to touch her arm and causally strode over to the counter. "Where did Mike go?"

"So you're just gonna pretend it never happened?"

"I thought you were going to watch the game."

Max sighed and walked across the floor to stand close to her.

Liz shivered as she felt the heat of his breath against her neck. Frustrated with her own betraying emotions, she quite violently ripped the kitchen drawer open and pulled out a spoon. "You're in my personal space."

Max responded by pressing the front of his body against her back, his hands taking a firm hold of her hips.

"Am I?" he breathed. "Is it always so damn cold here?"

Liz ripped the lid off of the ice-cream container, biting her lip to stop herself from screaming. Because if she screamed he would know that he was getting to her.

Instead she calmly said, "I keep the temperature down for assholes."

She held back a sigh as his hands started to wander north, his fingertips wandering underneath the bottom edge of her sweater. Skin touching skin.

"You can't ignore me forever."

Her hand tightened around the handle of the spoon and she slowly dug into the ice-cream, digging out a large scoop of the frozen dairy product. Before Max saw it coming he was experiencing the rather unpleasant sensation of having ice-cream running down the inside of his T-shirt.

He stared at Liz, his mouth hanging open in something akin to shock and before Liz could stop herself, she burst into laughter.

"It seemed like you needed to cool down," she gasped before spinning out of his reach and running towards her room.

But Max Evans hadn't made quarterback on the school team because of his good looks and the ice-cream tub and spoon were in his hands within a split second.

Liz could hear him behind her and she picked up her steps. She felt exhilarated, laughter running across her lips, but at the same time slightly scared. She really didn't want Max to get a hold of her. Reaching the end of the hallway, she pushed the door to her room open and was just about to shut it closed when Max came barreling through, the force of his body pushing the door open and having her fall to the floor.

"No Max, no…" Liz giggled as Max straddled her waist, a wicked look in his eyes and the ice-cold weapons occupying his hands.

"You're gonna regret doing that, Parker," Max promised, digging into the ice-cream with the spoon.

Liz's eyes opened wide with fear. That ice-cream looked really, really cold. "No Max, I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry!"

Max wasn't listening and as she wiggled to try and get out of the captivity, she watched his hand diving into the ice-cream he had placed onto the spoon, placing the ice-cream directly into his hand.

He looked up from the project, meeting her eyes with a devilish smirk.

"Maaax…" she said with warning.

"What is it, Lizzy bear?" Max mocked, his face inching closer to hers.

His body must be producing a lot of heat or something, because that must be the only reason why she suddenly felt really hot.

"Don't-" and then she screamed as Max spread his ice-cream covered palm across her exposed throat.

"_You bastard!_"

As she tried to dig non-existent fingernails into his thighs to get him off of her, he was already digging into the ice-cream again, now with his fingers. She wasn't sure which made her more angry: that fact that he was completely failing to even attempt to hide his amusement, or the fact that sticky, cold ice-cream was now slowly trickling down into her bra.

And then there was ice-cream on her face. She gasped as the cold sensation hit her skin, momentarily paralyzing her body.

Max burst out laughing and she felt her face grow hot, quickly melting the ice-cream.

"Do you have any idea of how funny you look?!" Max laughed.

Catching him off guard, Liz pulled her leg upwards and pushed her knee upwards with grave accuracy.

"_Fuck!_" Max groaned in pain and rolled off her, his hands pressed to his crotch and his forehead pressed against the floor.

Watching him, she pushed the fluttering feelings of guilt out of the way and said coldly. "Serves you right."

She strode across the floor but was pulled to the floor by Max's firm hand around her around her ankle, before she had a chance to reach the door.

She fell next to him, coming face to face with him. His face was flushed and his eyes painful and she swallowed. Why did the presence of pain in his eyes affect her so?

"Why are you like that, Parker?" he got out between gasping breaths. "You used to be fun."

She stared at him, feeling her walls melting along with the ice-cream sticking to her face. Maybe she should talk to him. Maybe that's what they needed. He had a point; they used to have fun. In their own way. But nothing had been the same, not since that day. She licked her lips, tasting the sugar from the melting ice-cream.

"I-"

But her voice was cut off by a loud sigh.

Max and Liz broke apart, staring guiltily at the person standing in the doorway.

"I leave you two alone for five minutes and this is what you do?"

Then he took a closer look at Liz's face and chuckled. "Man…" Turning his eyes to Max, he shook his head in disbelief. "Did you do that? Are you _trying_ to kill each other?"

Liz's face burned with embarrassment as she pulled herself up from the floor.

"Is that ice-cream?" Michael wondered as his sister tried to walk past him.

"She started it," Max mumbled sourly.

Michael raised an eyebrow. "When are you gonna stop this never-ending battle of yours?"

"Stay out of it, Mike," Max said.

Michael frowned, the smile slipping off his face. There was something different about the scene. Sure, Max and Liz always seemed dead-set on killing each other, but it had always been more or less good-natured. At least from Max's side. But now they just seemed truly…upset.

He watched Max scramble from the floor with great difficulty, grimacing and groaning.

"What happened, man?"

"Just leave it," Max murmured.

Michael watched his best friend gingerly walk out of the room and had a fairly good idea what had happened. At least physically. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something about the whole thing was off.

Taking a deep breath and making a mental shrug, he followed Max to the TV-room to watch the game.

TBC...


	8. Shocking Revelations

**7. Shocking Revelations**

Roswell High School  
Prom night  
(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17

"Max? Max? Hello? Maaax?"

Max tore his eyes away from the entrance, where Liz Parker had just made an appearance, and looked down at the blonde in front of him.

"What?" he asked calmly, trying to erase the image of Liz from his brain.

"I'm getting something to drink, do you want anything?"

His eyes drifted across the floor, back to the entrance where Liz was smiling as she talked to her brother. Her date was standing close to her, an arm slung across her shoulders. He felt a twitch of something run through him and his jaw muscles tightened.

"Maaax?"

He looked back down at his date, her impatient expression telling him that he had annoyed her again somehow.

"Yes, Tess," he said, with a slight edge this time.

"You didn't answer my question," she said.

He sighed. He should really pull it together. What was wrong with him? "Sorry. I guess I'm a bit tired."

She smiled softly, his excuse apparently satisfying her. "That's okay. Did you want something?"

His eyes drifted back to Liz and then he slowly shook his head. "No. I'm fine."

"Okay," she said. "Be back in a sec."

But his attention was already elsewhere as he moved towards Michael, Liz and her date.

"Hey man," he said, punching Michael lightly on his shoulder.

"Ahh…the manly display of affection," Liz said.

Max turned to look at her, as if just noticing her. "Oh, hello Parker. How are things? I didn't know you were allowed to these things. Not in another year at least."

She gave him a tight smile and pulled Alex Whitman into her side. "Max, you know Alex, don't you? He's in your year. He asked me to the prom. Which by my calculations means that I'm allowed to go."

Max couldn't help himself. With Liz, everything was fair ground. "What happened to Daniel?" And he cringed as Michael kicked his heel. Not very gently either.

Liz eyes grew dark and Max felt his heart rate pick up. Did she have any idea how sexy she looked when she got all bothered and angry?

"He couldn't make it."

"Why not?"

"He was elsewhere occupied."

"I think I saw him earlier with Rachel. Here. At the prom."

"Max," Michael said in a clear warning.

"I decided to go with Alex instead. Daniel just had to find a substitute."

"Funny. I heard it was the other way around."

That's when Michael decided to pull on Max's arm and dragged him away from Liz.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Michael hissed out. "Why are you pushing this?"

"Sorry man," Max said, feeling honestly sorry now that he could distance himself from Liz. It was just being in Liz's company that…brought the worst out of him. He knew that he shouldn't press the subject. But it was just part of their everyday battle.

"You're fucked up, Max," Michael said grimly. "Leave my sister alone. She's been looking forward to this night."

"Whatever man," Max shrugged and walked off, glancing over his shoulder over in Liz's direction. To his surprise, she was watching him as well. As their eyes met, she quickly turned away and he raised an eyebrow at the movement.

Interesting.

His grin fell as someone grabbed his arm. He looked down into blue eyes.

"This is one of my favorite songs," Tess announced with a wide smile.

"Then we should dance to it," Max smiled back, putting an arm around her waist and guiding her out on the dance floor.

_"Oh…it's you," Liz sighed as she opened the door._

Max frowned. Okay. They usually weren't the friendliest with each other, but "Where's the enthusiasm, kitten?"

She rolled her eyes, which…looked slightly red to Max. "Whatever."

"Is everything okay?"

She looked up at the softness in his voice and then slowly nodded. "Peachy." The sarcasm was tangible.

Michael chose this moment to walk into the hallway and Liz left without another word.

"What's up with her?" Max asked Michael.

"She was going to the prom and now she's not," Michael answered.

"Really? Who was taking her?"

"Daniel Johansson."

Max looked at Michael dubiously. "And she said 'yes'?"

Michael shrugged. "She wants to go to the prom."

"What about standards? She'll sacrifice them just so that she can go to the prom?"

"Dunno man. Doesn't matter anyway. He stood her up. Called her today and told her that he changed his mind and was going with Rachel Aniston."

Hot anger ran through his vessels and he looked at Michael bitterly, "Bastard."

"You're telling me," Michael agreed. "I wanted to go over there and rip him another one, but Lizzie wouldn't let me. Instead she's been sitting in her room all day, crying."

Max's heart clenched. Bastard. What came out of his mouth was in complete opposite to what he felt, "At least she still has her own prom next year," because if Liz wanted to go to the prom this year, she should be able to.

Michael scratched his eyebrow. "Yeah, I suppose."

Max hitched his thumb in the direction of the toilet. "I'm just gonna-"

Michael gave a short nod and disappeared up the stairs to his room while Max walked into the bathroom and secured the door behind him.

Going through his phonebook, he came up with the only decent guy he knew of that wasn't related to Liz and pressed the call button.

"Alex, hey. It's Evans."

Liz was going to that prom. He would see to it. There was no way she was going to sit in her room and mope around the night of the prom.

But she could never find out what he had done. He would have to make sure that Alex would keep it a secret.

"Where's your date?"

Liz looked up and met his eyes. "Toilet."

He sat down next to her. "He abandoned you."

"I'm not sure I want to go and hold his hand while he's in the toilet."

"You know, most guys wouldn't disapprove of that."

"Eww."

He smiled as she turned away from him to grab her glass. "Come on, Parker. You know what this night is about, don't you?"

And if Alex Whitman even considered touching her Max was going to cut off certain dear parts. Which he had made sure to properly inform Alex about before they had made the deal.

She looked over at him as if he had lost his mind. "I'm not discussing this with you."

"Oh come on," Max grinned. "Are you planning for this to be your big night? Or are you gonna step away from the cliché way of losing your virginity?"

"Who says I'm a virgin?"

Max's smile quickly slipped off his lips and he stared at her in horror. "What?"

She raised one eyebrow and calmly said, "It's not like I would tell you if I lost my virginity, so how come you're so certain that I'm still a virgin?"

He knew he was staring. And he knew that he should close his mouth. But she just couldn't be telling the truth.

"Jesus, Max. Pull yourself together. You didn't think I would remain a virgin my whole life, did you?"

"When?" he gulped.

She averted her eyes and said evenly. "None of your business."

"Who?"

"Skipped straight past sentences with multiple words, didn't we?"

"I'm serious, Lizzie," Max said and to his right looked deadly serious. His heart had more or less stopped beating. "Who was it?"

"Just leave it, Max. Just because you told me everything about the time you lost your virginity – even though I didn't ask to hear it – doesn't mean I have to tell you."

He felt nauseous. He wanted to beat up whoever had put his hands on her. He wanted to turn back the hands of time and tell her to not sleep with whoever she had slept with.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

She looked away and started to fidget with the flower attached to her wrist, a clear sign to Max that she was getting uncomfortable. Which by pulling all the pieces of information together, meant that someone _had_ hurt her.

"Jesus, Liz. Did someone force you?"

Liz stood up so suddenly she almost tripped over her chair. Looking down at him with fire in her eyes, she said forcibly. "Leave me alone. This is _none_ of your business."

He grabbed her wrist before she could storm off, his eyes pleading her for an answer, "Please. Just tell me."

She sighed. "No, Max. It was incredible. He was gentle and caring and I was very, very satisfied. Okay?"

Max swallowed back the nausea and slowly let her go. She walked off, bumping into Alex on her way to the exit. Shooting a glance into Max's direction, she grabbed Alex and promptly kissed him.

A shiver of dark jealousy raced across Max's skin and he rose from the chair. He needed to find Tess.

TBC...


	9. Scaring Mr Evans

**8. Scaring Mr. Evans**

Roswell High School  
Tuesday noon  
(2003) Max is 17, Liz is 16

Liz stretched the bottom of her shirt out in front of her to look at the stain of mayonnaise firmly planted at the level of her bellybutton.

"Great," she mumbled. "Freaking fantastic."

Sure, a lot of people were cursed with clumsiness, but why did that trait have to rear its ugly head whenever she was around? When she said 'a lot of people', she was really talking about Maria DeLuca. Her New Age hippie friend.

It was the third time this week that Maria had accidently slipped and spilled something on her innocent by-standing brunette friend.

And it was only Tuesday.

Still perusing the stain, she pushed the bathroom door open with the back of her shoulder and crossed the floor to the sink.

Mumbling curses under her breath, she turned the tap on. Being her absolute lucky day, the tap was turned on full force and sprayed Liz's front with cold water. She screamed in frustration and turned the tap off.

That's when she noticed she wasn't alone. She heard a female giggle and the shuffling of clothes. Metal from a belt hit the stall wall and she looked up into the mirror to see one of the bathroom stalls behind her occupied.

Either someone was having a lot of fun in the stall alone… or that someone had some help.

"Freaking fantastic," she repeated and turned her eyes back to her shirt. She pushed some soap out of the dispenser on the wall and started to smear it out into the mayonnaise. "I should teach her how to walk. Can it really be that difficult to put one foot in front of the other?"

She didn't really care if the person(s) in the stall heard her as she talked under her breath. She had never really cared about what people thought and wasn't about to start now. Besides, everyone pretty much took her for an odd person already anyway.

A soft moan echoed in the room and Liz's hands slowed their scrubbing. She scrunched her nose in disgust. "Ugh. Why? Why do these things happen to me?"

There was a soft bang against the stall wall and audible kissing sounds followed by another moan.

Biting her tongue to not scream at them, Liz turned on the tap and started to wash the soap and mayonnaise out of the fabric.

A louder moan broke through the sound of the running tap.

"That's it," Liz grumbled, turned off the tap and twisted the bottom of her shirt with her hands to get most of the water out before she spun on her heels and stomped up to the stall door.

The noises on the other side stopped abruptly as she banged her fist against the door.

"Do you mind?! Could you at least have the courtesy to fuck somewhere else?!"

She stared at the quiet door for another ten seconds, before rolling her eyes skyward and walking over to the hand-dryer to dry her shirt. The dryer drowned out whatever sounds might be happening inside the stall from then on. The door opened just as the dryer had finished one cycle and grew quiet. Before Liz had the chance to wave her hands around to activate the dryer again, a familiar voice made her freeze.

"I should've known."

With narrowed eyes and bile building up in her throat, she turned and locked eyes with her life nemesis, a.k.a Max Evans.

He smirked. "No one is better at ruining my day than you."

Her eyes travelled down his body as he finished buttoning up his jeans. Then she looked at the blonde girl walking up behind him, trying to smoothen her hair with one hand and straighten her wrinkled shirt with the other.

"What a surprise," she said softly, dark feelings simmering just below the surface. "Our all American Quarterback is fucking another cheerleader in the toilet. What would we ever do without you jocks to reinforce the clichés?"

"Are you jealous, Parker?" the girl asked, wrapping one arm around Max's waist. "We all know you've been wanting to get into Max's pants for like forever."

Liz's gaze grew darker as she glared at the girl before delivering a fake smile. "Oh yeah." She said with an upbeat voice. "You are, like, totally, like, right! I've always wanted to be fucked by someone that doesn't really, like, care about me – like, at all. Someone who is just using me to get off and will exchange me the next day. Yeah. You're right. I'm totally jealous!"

She glanced at Max's face, seeing an amused look on his face, mixed with something she couldn't quite decipher.

The cheerleader huffed. "Bitch."

Max raised one eyebrow, his intense stare starting to make Liz uncomfortable, and breathed out with a voice so husky it practically screamed sex. "I'm free this afternoon, Lizzie…"

The airhead of a girl standing next to him giggled, the tone being slightly off. Liz wouldn't be surprised if the girl had actually believed that she meant something more to Max than just a one-time fuck. She wouldn't be surprised if the cheerleader actually had been prepared to convince Liz about that fact, until Max just that second had thrown her off that idea.

The confidence having visibly run off her, the girl looked up at Max, trying to read what was going on. Like the rest of the school, the girl probably knew that Max and Liz spent a lot of time together. What she didn't know was the constant battle they had between each other. A battle that had its own rules and certainly didn't include any sporadic bimbos.

Because what Max's eyes were telling Liz that second was that he was serious. If she was up for it, so was he. Right that second he didn't care that there was another girl in the room with them. He was only seeing Liz.

Liz happened to look at the girl about the same time that the girl's self-esteem plummeted, which had Liz smiling inwardly. She could so use this to her advantage.

Appearing more confident than she felt, she walked up to Max, seeing his eyes widen as she got closer. The girl stepped aside in simple confusion as Liz pushed her away with one hand, the other being placed against Max's chest.

"Is that an invitation?" she asked softly.

She involuntarily shivered as his eyes turned a darker shade as he looked down at her. His free arm, the one not being held in an iron grip by a blonde, came around Liz's body by its own force, pulling her closer to his body.

As she came into closer contact with the warmth of his body, she shivered for another reason. She wasn't completely sure what he had done with that girl in the booth, but he could've just had sex with her and now he was pulling her a little bit too close for comfort.

"Interested?" he asked and Liz could see the hint of amusement in his eyes, telling her that he knew they were playing.

She placed her index finger lightly against his cheek, tracing it down the slight stubble, her lips forming in a pout as she held his gaze. "I miss you."

"What's she talking about?" the high-pitched voice intruded from the outside. Max didn't even turn to look at the girl.

"Yeah?" Max asked, his eyes travelling to her glistening lips.

"But I understand now that it was never meant to be," Liz said slowly.

His eyes slightly narrowed as he tried to figure out where she was going with that. His fingers itched under her shirt to feather across the skin of her small back. "Why?"

"It just wouldn't be fair to you," Liz whispered. "You should be able to express your love too."

He frowned. What was she talking about?

"For boys," she added, a mischievous twinkle glittering in her eyes.

He stared at her for a second before his mouth fell slightly open. Was she insinuating…

"You're gay?" the blonde asked, her voice quiet with shock.

A victorious smile spread across Liz's face, making sure that only Max saw it. She brushed her fingers across his lips, feeling goosebumps spread across her skin. "I know. Isn't it a terrible waste?"

"That's why…" the blonde started.

Liz tore her eyes away from Max's, looking at the blonde with interest. "That's why what?"

Max had yet to regain his ability to form sentences and was still staring at the petite brunette pressed up against him.

"You couldn't- You said… You said it was because of the interruption, but you were so… You're gay?"

Liz looked up at Max with a smile. "It's okay, Max. You don't have to hide it anymore. No more mindless sex just to prove that you're something you're not. Just let it go. Accept it."

The hand that only a second ago had tantalizingly been stroking the skin of her small back now gripped her upper arm and pulled her away from his body.

"She's lying," he bit out, irritation and frustration simmering in his eyes.

Liz watched on with fascination. This was great. If he couldn't get out of this, the cheery cheerleader would quickly spread the information and Max would never get laid again.

That would completely crush his ego.

Justice would be served.

Hell yeah.

Liz really liked that thought.

"But Max," Liz said innocently. "You told me yourself."

"Jenny-" Max started, now looking at the girl with quiet desperation.

"Meg," she corrected, causing Liz to bit down on her lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. That, and the slight pain from the hard grip he had on her arm, was the only things stopping her from losing her poker face.

"Meg," Max started again. "This girl – we hate each other. She would do anything to destroy me. I have never told her that I was gay."

Poor Meg looked confused. "But you just asked her – in front of me – to have sex with her. As if you know her. As if you've had an intimate relationship with her-"

Liz shrugged non-committedly. "Please, it was just sex."

Max shot her a glare, as Meg ignored her. "Intimate enough to make you tell her that you are not into girls. I mean, everyone totally knows that you and Parker spend a lot of time together. Why would she say something like that about you if it wasn't true?"

"Yeah, Max? Why would I ever do that?" Liz asked with mock insult. "I care about you. This is for your own good. The sooner you-"

"Shut up, Elizabeth," Max warned darkly before facing Meg again. "Don't you get it? She wants to ruin my life."

"It just doesn't make sense. Why would you two spend so much time together if you, like…hate each other?"

"Yeah," Liz smiled at Max. "Why would we do that?"

Max released his iron grip on Liz and scrubbed his hands down his face before taking a hold of Meg's hand. "Let's go. I'll prove to you that I'm very much into girls."

Liz felt her smile slip off her face. Hang on. Wait. No. That was not supposed to happen.

Meg's face brightened tentatively. "Uhm… You don't have to prove-"

"I want you, Meg," Max said. "I want you so badly."

Liz stared at him in disbelief. Oh please. Did that sound as cheesy to everyone else as it did to her?

"Oh, baby," Meg almost moaned.

Liz shook her head. Guess not.

And before she had the chance to compute what was happening, Max had pulled Meg with him back into the bathroom stall.

Liz left the bathroom as quickly as she could. He was pathetic. The male species was pathetic.

TBC...


	10. The Other Woman

**9. The Other Woman**

The apartment  
Saturday evening, a couple of weeks after the prom  
(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17

Behold! Max Evans has a girlfriend.

Maybe Liz Parker should be happy about this.

Maybe it should please her to know that he was no longer sleeping around, but had actually formed a commitment to _one_ girl.

But Liz Parker was not happy when Max dragged Tess over to the apartment and she could hear the blonde's giggles echo down the corridor to her room.

It didn't please her to see them making out on the couch as she went to get a glass of water.

Liz Parker was annoyed.

If Max Evans wanted to tickle his girlfriend, he should do so at his own place.

If Max Evans wanted to suck on his girlfriend's face, he should do it somewhere else.

Hearing Tess' laugh, Liz pressed firm hands over her ears and filled her head with 'la la la la' as she walked to the bathroom.

"Gaaah," she pressed out as she slammed the door shut, not caring if the couple had heard her.

It was just rude. It was just fucking rude to go to someone else's house and make out with your girlfriend on their couch.

She angrily pulled off her shirt and threw it on the floor. At the back of her head, she knew that she was probably acting like a five-year-old throwing a tantrum, but she just had the urge to stomp her feet and scream.

"Fucking idiot," she mumbled, his face clear in her head. "I hate him. I hate him. I hate him."

She pulled her pants and panties down her legs and stepped into the shower. The water dials, shampoo, conditioner, yes everything, were treated like they had cheated on her. She angrily turned the dials, kicked the shampoo bottle around on the tiled floor, hit the conditioner bottle repeatedly into the wall and stepped on the bottle of shower cream, which spurted the product out into the water, fumes of strawberry-scented cream filling the air.

She felt much more relaxed after the shower. Some people needed to go outside and scream. Some people got drunk. Liz Parker abused her cleaning products and she felt rejuvenated.

After towel-drying her hair, she wrapped the towel around her petite body and opened the bathroom door. Only to be faced by The Girlfriend herself.

"Oh," she said, looking at Liz's freshly cleaned face and wet hair with a glint in her eye. "Hello."

"Hey," Liz mumbled, her eyes darkening as she took a firm grip on the top of her towel so it wouldn't – for some odd reason – fall off.

Tess slowly raked her eyes down her towel-clad body, a condescending smirk on her face. "Little Lizzie. Didn't know you were here."

Oh, and did Liz mentioned how much she hates his girlfriend? Especially this quality of hers to look down at Liz and make her feel like an insignificant ugly ant.

"I live here," she said, trying not to be too affected by her tone of voice. She could handle this girl. It was just another blonde.

But it wasn't. It was the blonde Max had chosen to be his first girlfriend. There must be something about this girl to have Max sacrifice his playboy status and that intimidated Liz.

"Yeah, I heard," Tess said slowly and cocked her head to the side, as if talking to a child.

Liz squinted with her eyes, focusing on the girl's face hard. Maybe her anger could disintegrate the blonde on the spot. That would be cool.

"How's school?" Tess wondered with a smirk.

Oh yes, blondie. Rub it in. You're in college. I'm still in high school. Yes, you are the cooler person here.

Liz covered the sarcastic voice in her head with a tight smile. "Marvelous."

"You know," Tess said, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I've always wondered something."

Liz sighed in frustration. "What?"

"Max and you spend a lot of time together, don't you?"

Liz rolled her eyes. Here we go again. The Assumption with a large A.

"Have you two ever…" she left the question hanging, looking at her with a smirk that had Liz suspect she already knew the answer.

Of course Blondie knew the answer. That was probably one of the first things she had asked Max about.

Liz donned a bored expression and said in a monotonous voice. "Yes, actually. He's my fucking buddy. Whenever he gets tired of the likes of you, he comes to me. He always comes back to me."

Liz had to struggle not to laugh as Tess' eyes widened in shock. It was actually a really funny expression.

The shock passed quickly and the blonde's face darkened. Almost spitting the words out, she looked down at her (even though Liz was an inch taller) and said, "He would never be interested in you. Just look at you." She waved her hand across Liz's chest, which had Liz shrinking into herself. "You've got absolutely _nothing_ to offer him. You're flat as a plank, your face is plain, your hair is boring and your personality is awful."

Okay, so Liz had kinda set herself up for that defensive reply. Didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Max has told me the truth, okay," Tess said darkly. "He's told me that you are just Mike's annoying little sister who won't leave him alone."

Liz felt hot tears burn her eyes. Tess' earlier words were not nearly as hurtful as her last words. She pressed her lips together and took a step to the side to step around the girl when she bumped into something.

She already knew who it was without having to look up. His smell surrounded her in a protective cocoon. At least it had symbolized safety a couple of seconds ago, now with Tess' latest words ringing in her head, it was only suffocating her.

"Hey," she heard him say and she squeezed her eyes shut, not being able to move because he had grabbed a hold of her arms, probably to steady her. But that didn't explain why he hadn't let her go yet. "Is everything alright?"

Just peachy, Liz thought.

Liz heard rather than saw the sugar sweet smile on Tess' face as she answered, "Everything's fine. Liz was just showing me to the bathroom."

"Oh," Max said and his hands let go of Liz's bare arms.

She immediately started walking to her bedroom, as if she was a captured animal just let free. She could feel Max's eyes at the back of her head and as she shut the door to her bedroom behind her, she could hear Max ask Tess what had happened.

She leaned her head against the door and squeezed her eyes tightly together, willing herself to take deep breaths.

She could hear them moving around outside her door, so she turned and twisted the key in the door in case Max decided to walk in.

She let the towel drop on the floor and pulled out her body lotion. Tears running down her cheeks, she methodically massaged lotion into the skin of her legs, biting her tongue to stop herself from sobbing. A sob caught in her throat as she heard Tess laugh loudly in the living room and she heatedly wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand.

Why was she letting that girl get to her?

She pulled out some underwear, a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt from the wardrobe, and quickly dressed.

As she pulled the T-shirt over her head, there was a knock on the door.

She froze and stared at the door, soundlessly willing the person on the other side to go away. The handle moved but, to her relief, the voice drifting through the door didn't belong to the guy that only seemed to cause her grief.

"Why's your door locked?"

Wiping her eyes clear of any tears, she turned the key and opened the door.

Her big brother looked at her oddly. "Have you been crying?"

She shook her head, "I'm just tired," and turned her head away.

"What are you doing in here? We're gonna watch a movie."

"I have to study," Liz lied.

Michael looked at her suspiciously. Liz was a smart girl. She rarely needed to study.

"It's 'The Ring'," Michael said, knowing perfectly well that Liz had a weakness for horror movies. It was her closet obsession. He also happened to know that she had wanted to see that movie when it was running in the cinemas but never got around to.

"You rented 'The Ring'?" she asked, hoping that he would say 'no' even though she really wanted to see that movie. She just knew that she would have to go out _there_ to see it.

"Yep," Michael smiled. "You never saw that one, did you?"

She shook her head, her shoulders sloping. She was going out there, wasn't she?

Sighing deeply, she resigned with an "Okay."

"Cheer up, squirt. You're not going into war."

"I'm just tired," Liz mumbled as she switched off the light in her room and followed Michael down the hallway.

Tess' laughter bombarded her eardrums as she approached the living room. Without looking at them, she sank down in the bean bag next to the couch.

"Oh, you're joining us?" Tess asked so sweetly it made Liz's teeth ache.

"Uh-huh," she answered.

"How about we convince the boys to watch something funny instead," Tess proposed.

Liz sank further into the bean bag, wondering why Tess was talking to her. She was just her for the movie. Why couldn't Max's new girlfriend just leave her alone?

"I actually prefer horror movies," Liz mumbled.

Tess laughed like she had said something funny and Liz looked over in her direction, for the first time looking at Tess – and inadvertently Max. She quickly wished she hadn't. Tess was curled up against Max's side, her head resting on his shoulder. Max had one arm wrapped around her shoulders, his fingers playing with her curls, while the other hand was resting on her thigh.

Liz intentionally avoided looking at Max and directed her eyes firmly on Tess' face. If she just focused on Tess' face, she could block out everything around. "What's so funny about that?"

Tess' face fell at her cold tone and Max shifted slightly. With a hint of warning to his voice, he spoke for the first time since she had joined them, "Liz…"

"Yeah, yeah," Liz mumbled, turning her head away. "I'll be nice."

"So, what's this movie about?" Tess asked and Liz rolled her eyes. This was going to be a long night.

Tess lasted for about thirty minutes before she was hiding her face in Max's chest, talking loudly about how scary the movie was.

Liz put up with her monologue for about ten minutes, her jaw clenched and her hands squeezed into tight fists, before she turned to Tess and snapped, "Could you shut up?"

There was a second of silence as everyone stared at Liz and then Max spoke, "Fuck Liz. What's your problem?"

She really didn't want to cause a scene, she just wanted that stupid person to not talk during the movie, so she sank further into the bean bag and said, without looking at him, "It's just a bit annoying when _people_ talk during the movie."

"She's just asking questions," Max answered, his voice tense.

Liz crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "Fine. Whatever. Just do it quietly."

"Why are you being such a bitch?" Max asked, anger coloring his voice.

"Hey," Michael intervened, but Liz had already straightened and was staring at Max heatedly.

"I'm being a bitch?" she questioned with dark eyes.

"Yes," Max answered. "Tess is my guest and you're treating her like shit."

"Oh," Liz huffed, his tone cutting into her. She wanted to explode with the unfairness of the situation, but she found herself at a loss of words as the pain in her chest numbed her. So instead of informing him of every single word that Tess had said to her earlier, she rose from the bean bag and walked away without another word.

"Lizzie, come on," Michael yelled after her, but the tears were already rolling down her cheeks. There was no way she was going back there.

Then she heard Tess' voice, which had her quickening her steps, "Max? Max, where are you going?"

He reached her just outside of her door, his fingers digging into her arm as he spun her around. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

She closed her eyes as he yelled into her face and missed the look of confusion cross his face as he noticed her tears.

She hit out with her arms, removing his hands from her arms and walked away from him. "Fuck you!"

He caught her again, his voice softer now, "Hey. She's really a nice girl. Just give her a chance."

Keeping her head down to hide her tears, she said tightly, "Yeah, whatever." She was at the point where she would say anything he wanted to hear, just so he would let her go.

She was very close to breaking down and she really didn't feel like doing so in front of him.

"She was trying to be nice to you and you just-"

"Nice," she repeated, her voice hitching on an uncontrollable sob. "She was not…" Her voice failed her as another sob ripped through her.

His grip on her arms loosened and she pulled an arm free to press a hand against her eyes.

"Why are you crying?" he asked softly, confusion in his voice.

A teary laugh squeezed past the sobs. "You just screamed at me and you're wondering why I'm crying?"

"You don't cry…" Max said insecurely.

Liz looked up at him with wet eyes and said, "Yes, Max. I cry. And before you start accusing people, maybe you should get your facts straight."

With that she stepped out of his hold and walked into her room, slamming the door behind her and leaving Max staring at the wooden barrier wondering what had just happened.

TBC...


	11. Stranded

Let's step away from the whole Tess situation and all that drama, shall we?

**10. Stranded**

In the Middle of Nowhere  
One month before Christmas  
(2004) Michael is 20, Max is 19, Liz is 18

"Transformers are way cooler!"

"They're not real!!"

"Oh and Ninja Turtles are?"

She huffed. "You know what I mean."

"No, little Lizzie. You're not making any sense."

Mike sighed. "Would you two shut up for just a second?"

Without taking his eyes off Liz, Max answered his best friend. "We're having an important discussion here."

Mike sighed again. "Important my ass."

"But Turtles are funny."

"So's your face."

Liz's head fell backwards with a loud exasperated sigh. "Would you stop that already?!"

Michael and Max were currently in this phase in their lives when every statement could be met with a 'so is your face' or 'so is your mother'. It had been slightly funny when they had started, but five months of that crap kinda took the joy out of it.

Max opened his mouth to respond when the car started to shake and slow down. Horror filtered through Max's eyes for a split second, disrupting his general cool countenance.

"What did you do?" he asked Michael, leaning in to look for any warning lights on the panel.

"I didn't do anything. It just…" The car made some odd coughing sounds until it came to a complete stop. "…died."

Liz stared at the two males occupying the front seats. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. The expression of horror mixed with concern for his 'baby' looked really amusing on Max's face, while Michael looked really funny trying to pretend he wasn't aware of the death glares Max was sending his way.

But twenty minutes later, Liz was very close to crying.

"Whose brilliant idea was it to take this piece of junk through the desert anyway?" Liz muttered.

"Shut up," Max warned. No one called his dark blue 1968 Chevrolet Impala 'a piece of junk' and lived.

"You know, Maxie. They are building new cars now. New cars, so that you won't have to drive around in old cars-"

"Liz-" Michael warned, but it was too late.

"Would you shut up for a second?!" Max erupted, staring at her with wild eyes. Something that had Liz fascinated instead of intimidated. "You bitch and moan about the quality of my car when it would be nice if you would help us figuring out a solution!"

She shrugged. "That's easy. Since you two boneheads have both dysfunctional cell phones, we just have to sit and wait for someone to pass by."

Michael looked up from the display screen of his cell phone which was still displaying the lack of reception in this area. "How many cars have we met the last hour, Liz?"

Liz bit her lower lip. She had no idea. She had been concentrating on Max's face the whole time to see his every facial expression as they battled out another battle of wills.

Looking nonchalant, she shrugged again. "About two."

"Zero, Lizzie! No fucking cars whatsoever!"

"Hey," Max said calmly to Michael, looking at Liz oddly. "Take it down a notch, Mike."

Sure, Max had been the one screaming at Liz just a second ago, but he always screamed at Liz. Yelling was the foundation of their relationship. But Michael almost never raised his voice at his little sister and Max immediately saw the hurt creep into Liz's eyes at Michael's voice level.

"Okay, fine," she bit out and turned her back to them so they couldn't see her expression.

But she had a feeling Max already had. Even though they went on each other's nerves most of the time, Max was the closest thing she had to a best friend. He seemed to be able to read her and tell what was wrong before she had even realized there was something wrong. It was unnerving at the best of times, but at least she knew that he would always be there. Even though it might be to pull her hair or just piss her off in general, he would be there.

Max wanted to step up to her and check so that she was okay, but Michael interrupted him. "What _are_ we gonna do, Maxwell?"

Max looked down at his own dead phone, silently cursing himself for not charging it that morning, and sighed. "Maybe we just have to wait, like Lizzie said."

"Oh _now_ she has a point," Liz grumbled softly from side of the road where she had sat down.

The corners of Max's mouth twitched as Michael glared at her.

"Or maybe I should walk around and see if I can get reception anywhere," Michael said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, do that," Liz said sarcastically, as if it was the most ridiculous idea on the planet.

Michael stared at his two years younger sister and opened his mouth to possibly snap at her again when Max intercepted.

"Seems like a good enough idea."

Liz scoffed. "Good idea? There's probably as little reception hundred feet away as it is two miles away. In case you two haven't noticed, we're in the middle of fucking nowhere."

"Liz, you're not helping," Max said evenly.

They were all tightly wound and this was Liz's classic response to frustration. Michael losing control over his feelings was also a classic sign of frustration and the two of them together right now equaled disaster.

"Okay, fine. Do your thing. How far are you gonna walk anyway?"

"I'll walk along the road until I get reception or find a town, whatever comes first."

Concern flickered across Liz's face. "Do you really want to do this, Mike? Who knows what might be out there? You might be bitten by a snake and lay there dying without anyone knowing."

His facial expression softened at her worried tone. "That won't happen, Lizzie. I'll be careful, 'k?"

Unconvinced, she regarded him carefully for another second before reluctantly agreeing. "Okay."

Michael walked up to her and ruffled her hair, smiling at her lovingly. "See you later, squirt."

Michael turned to Max and managed to keep a straight face as he told him, "Don't kill her, okay. I like my sister. Most of the time."

In the background Liz rolled her eyes. Because all three of them knew that Max would protect her with his life if it came down to it.

"As long as she doesn't piss me off," Max said.

Michael sighed with pretended worry on his face. "Seriously? That is synonymous to signing her death sentence."

"Fuck you," Liz said, to no one in particular.

Max and Michael both shook their heads at each other, donning their most parental expressions.

"Wherever did she pick up that language?" Max murmured.

Michael shrugged. "How the fuck do I know?"

Max grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. "Penelope and I are counting on you, man."

"Hey!" Liz cried out at the blatant disregard for her as Max obviously only has his car on his mind.

Michael smirked knowingly at Max and nodded. "Don't stress. I've got it under control."

And with that, Michael was off, headed for the longest walk of his life. For a guy who was generally too lazy to get up from the couch to open the door for the pizza delivery guy, that was saying a lot.

--

_Twenty minutes later_

"She was a whore anyway."

"That's really not a very nice thing to say, Shorty. She's a person, you know."

"Not like she can hear me," Liz shrugged. "Probably wouldn't even understand what I'm saying if she was standing close to me."

"Yeah," Max said seriously, dragging the stick around in the sand next to his folded leg. "You do tend to mumble."

"I _do not_ mumble," Liz objected.

Max smiled, something Liz missed out on due to the fact that she was laying down in the stubble behind him, his back towards her.

"Yes, you do."

"I do not."

"Do too."

"Do not."

"Do too."

"Do no- You're an asshole."

Max rolled his eyes. "Very mature, Lizzie. How old are you again?"

"None of your business."

Before Max could comment on her illogic, Liz called out, "Oh my God!"

Her exclamation made Max look at her in alarm. "What's wrong?"

Liz was already scrambling to her feet, excitement drowning her features. "There's a cow!"

Max frowned. "There's a cow?"

Liz laughed. "Yes, stupid. Over there!"

Max followed the line of Liz's pointed finger and yes, there was a cow. Across the street. Staring at them.

Before Max had a chance to react, Liz was running across the street and was climbing into the paddock.

"Wait, Liz!" Max yelled, jumping up from his seated position to follow her.

She was already patting the cow as Max climbed into the paddock.

"Hello, baby," she cooed, pressing her cheek up against the ruminant.

Max watched with an amused expression. "'Baby'? You know that she's like ten times your weight, right?"

Liz ignored him. "Isn't she adorable?"

Max refrained from snorting. "Yeah… Cute as a button."

"I want a cow."

Max laughed. "Kitten, what are you gonna do with a cow?"

"Milk it of course. Just imagine getting fresh milk every morning."

"Do you know that they have to have calves regularly to keep producing milk? Where are you gonna put all the calves? In your roof-top garden in New York?"

"That's not true. Those women in Africa continue to breast-feed until their kids are like six…"

"That's just gross-"

"They continue to produce milk because there's constant suction." She blushed as the words left her mouth. God, did she just say that?

Max had to fight not to laugh at the way her face turned red. "Suction, huh?"

"You know what I mean."

"I'm not really sure, Parker. Please explain."

"Shut up. You're such a guy."

"Thank you for confirming that. I wasn't really sure this morning in the shower."

Liz scrunched up her face. "Eww. Mental image."

Max stepped up close to her. "I bet I'm hot as hell in that mental image."

"Stop it. There's a cow here. You don't talk about things like that in front of a cow."

"I'm sure it won't bother her. Maybe it will up her milk production."

Liz looked at him disgusted. "I can't believe I never fully realized how gross you really are. You're possibly worse than Mike."

Max looked offended. "Not possible."

Liz gave him a lopsided smile. "Yeah, you're right." She patted the cow in silence, her thoughts miles away. "Nothing's gonna happen to him, right?"

Max's heart skipped a beat as he looked down into her worried eyes, but he quickly pushed the feelings to the side. Like he always did. "No, squirt. He's a big guy. He can take care of himself. Maybe he can finally use that knowledge he's acquired from watching all those ninja movies."

Liz snorted, but Max could see her relax somewhat. "Yeah, right. Have you ever seen him practicing that stuff? He looks like an idiot."

Max grinned. "Had the misfortune of walking in on him once…"

"He's such a nerd."

"Guess it runs in the family."

"Ha. Funny."

Turning her gaze upon the cow once again a thoughtful expression fell across her face. Before Max had a chance to ask her what was on her mind, she asked, "Have you ever ridden a cow?"

He stared at her dubiously, wondering if his ears were deceiving him. But he should know better when it came to Liz. _Anything_ could come out of that mouth.

"Can't say that I have," he answered.

"We should do it," Liz said with eyes glittering with excitement.

He raised an eyebrow. "You want to ride the cow?"

She turned to him with a large grin. "Yes."

"No no," Max said, "Let me rephrase that. You want to sit – on top of the cow – and ride it?"

"Yes," Liz repeated, the slightest hint of impatience creeping into her voice. "What's the matter, Maxie? Chicken?"

He snickered, shaking his head in amusement. "You're on Parker."

Liz looked at the cow. "She seems nice enough, right?"

Max shrugged, "I guess," while he was smiling on the inside. This was going to be fun. Liz was already chickening out.

"Could you help me up?" Liz asked.

Max grinned. "My pleasure."

Her eyes narrowed at the sight of his grin. "No funny business."

He saluted. "No m'am."

"Funny."

"I try."

"Whatever."

"You want my help or not?"

"I'm waiting for you."

Max sighed, "Okay," and laced his fingers together to form a step that she could put her foot into.

She grabbed his shoulders and pushed herself upwards with one foot in his hands. Just as she turned to lean into the cow, the cow moved. This caused her to lose her balance and she fell over with a small shriek, almost pulling Max over as well.

The sight of Liz scrambling to regain a more respectable position than the one she had fallen into had Max laughing.

And then the cow decided to investigate what all the fuss was about and leaned around, stretching her long neck out so that she could nuzzle the human on the ground.

"Ugh," Liz said, slightly disgusted but mostly scared by the large head coming her way.

This only made Max laugh even harder. He was having troubles to remaining on his feet.

Then the cow open its mouth, letting some grassy saliva run out along its long tongue.

"Max!" Liz shrieked, afraid that the cow was going to eat her. "Help!"

But Max was now sitting down in the grass, still laughing hard, not making a single attempt to help Liz out. Besides, it was not like the cow would have Liz for lunch.

The saliva dropped in a big splash on her forehead and she curled into a ball, whining, "Ew ew ew ew. Cow drool. It's on my face. Get it off."

Max wiped a tear out of his eye before grabbing her foot and pulling her away from the cow.

She sat up, frantically trying to clean her forehead with the sleeve of her shirt. Which was difficult since she was wearing a T-shirt.

"Ugh, gross gross gross."

"Do you have any idea how funny you look?" Max laughed which stopped Liz in the midst of her wiping and she sent a death glare in his direction.

Gathering as much strength as she could, she kicked the shin of his leg.

"Hey!"

"Why didn't you help me?" she asked, still glaring at him.

Max rubbed his leg, the temporary look of pain quickly disappearing from his face only to be replaced by previous merriment.

"You looked like you had it under control."

Liz's face darkened and she bit out, "I hate you."

"I hate you too," Max cooed and quickly pulled his upper body backwards as Liz's hand came flying through the air intent on hitting him.

There was a few seconds of stillness as Liz and Max stared at each other in silent battle of the wills. Then, as if running by the same alarm clock, they simultaneously attempted to get up from their seated position. Before Liz could get a hold of Max, he was off, running down the meadow.

Liz ran as fast as she could, but even though she had always been fast, her short legs proved to be at her disadvantage.

"Ow," Max heard behind him and while still running, he shot a glance over his shoulder to see Liz falling in the grass.

He slowed down and slowly turned. "You okay, Parker?"

"I think I...ow," Liz rubbed her ankle, "I think I sprained my ankle."

Max hesitated before carefully starting to walk towards her. "Can you feel your toes?"

"Yes," Liz moaned in pain. "But it fucking hurts."

"Okay," Max said, cautiously stepping up to her fully aware that she might be tricking him.

She looked up at him with large glistening eyes. "I don't think I can walk."

Pushing his suspicions to the side, Max fell to his knees next to her, intending to examine her foot when she lunged at him, causing them to fall backwards in the grass.

Before Max had the chance to comprehend what was happening, Liz was rubbing her face against his, efficiently spreading whatever cow saliva she had left on her face onto his face.

"Aaaah, _Parker_!"

She laughed and pulled back before he could grab onto her.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that," Max threatened as she scrambled backwards on the heels of her hands to try and get as far away from him as possible before attempting to rise.

She didn't get very far.

Max trapped her underneath his body, smiling down at her as she realized her defeat. He opened his mouth to say something but was cut short by Michael's voice floating across the meadow.

"Hey dorks! Killing time is over!"

Without even looking into the direction of the voice, Max pulled away from Liz with such speed that one might think she had been on fire.

"I managed to establish contact with civilization!" Michael's voice announced.

Max reached out a hand for Liz, which she took with a small smile, and pulled her to her feet.

"Good acting," Max said, referring to her foot.

"Thanks," Liz said, but stumbled as she started walking.

Max frowned. "You alright?"

"Uhm," Liz said, "This will sound stupid, but I actually _did_ sprain my foot."

Max rolled his eyes, "You idiot," and leaned in and folded a supporting arm around her waist.

He stilled and looked at her face suspiciously as a mischievous smile spread across her features. "Got you again."

He let go off her waist and sighed. "Funny. You're a funny girl, Parker."

Liz smiled proudly and ran off – on her completely healthy feet – to greet her brother. Max stood back and watched her with a smile on his face. She sure was something.

"Come on, Evans, let's see if we can resuscitate that loser car of yours!"

Max's smile tumbled off his face. He hated that girl.

TBC...


	12. Pushed Aside

You might be a bit confused as to why I've written the below chapter, but it has a purpose (believe me). I realise that it doesn't really portray Michael in the best way, but just remember that they are kids…

**11. Pushed aside**

The Parkers' Residence  
Friday evening  
(1991) Michael is 7, Max is 6, Liz is 5 

"Okay," Mrs. Parker said and rose from her seat, turning to her son. "Take care of Elizabeth."

Liz dropped her spoon in the soup and looked up with anxious eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Honey," Mrs. Parker said with a smile. "We told you. There's this play in-"

"You're leaving?" Liz whispered, her eyes large and fearful. "You can't leave. You just came back."

Mr. Parker walked up to her to ruffle her hair but she pushed his hands away. He gave his wife a strange look and Mrs. Parker's smile tensed. She really didn't have time for this tonight. They were already late.

"It's only for three days," Mrs. Parker said.

Large tears were now rolling down Liz's face and with a trembling bottom lip she said, "But you just came back."

"Come on, Lizzie. We'll watch _Aladdin_, okay?" Michael tried, but Liz didn't hear him because her mother had stood up and was already walking towards the front door.

Liz jumped down from her chair and ran up to her mother, wrapping her small arms tightly around one leg. "Don't go."

Mrs. Parker looked down at the little girl, who was more of an acquaintance than her daughter, and sighed. "Elizabeth, dear. Gabriela will make you some…uhm…tea. Whatever you like. And you can watch that movie with your brother."

"Nooo," Liz sobbed, tightening her grip around her mother's thigh.

The sound of the door bell echoed in the large house and Mr. Parker walked around his wife to open the door. The dark-haired boy on the other side gave him a polite smile. "Hello, Mr. Parker."

"Hello, Max."

Max's attention was quickly diverted to the sound of someone crying to his right. He was so perplexed by the sight of Michael's little sister crying and clinging to her mother that he didn't notice his mother saying goodbye and Mr. Parker closing the front door.

"Hey Max," Michael said with a broad grin and walked up to his friend.

Max glanced in Michael's direction, "Hey," before his eyes returned to Liz, "What's wrong with her?"

"She's just being annoying," Michael shrugged. "Let's go to my room."

Max looked back at the girl. He had never seen anyone cry that much before. It was kinda freaky. "Uhm, okay."

His eyes still drawn to the crying sister, he trotted after his best friend.

"We'll get you something in New York, dear," Mrs. Parker said, but that only tightened Liz's grip on her mother's leg.

"I don't want anything," she hiccupped. "I want _you_. I want you to stay."

"Well, we can't, Elizabeth," her father said and leaned down next to the girl. He took a hold of her hands and tried to pry them off. "Come here."

"Nooo," Liz wailed and held on tighter. "I don't want you to go."

"We'll get you a new Barbie, okay? Would you like that?" Mrs. Parker tried while her husband ripped the desperate hands off her leg.

Liz fell to the floor, her face wet from the tears and her hands now holding onto her father. "I don't want a Barbie!!"

"Okay," Mrs. Parker resigned and yelled out to the rest of the house. "_Gabriela! Come here right now, please!_"

Gabriela came hurrying down the hallway and her heart broke when she saw the poor girl crying at her mother's feet. These rich people might have it all, but they had no idea how to raise a child.

Gabriela rushed up to Liz and tried to take her in her arms. But Liz wouldn't have it. She wanted her parents.

"No!"

Jumping to her feet, she ran towards her father and hugged his leg instead.

"Gabriela," Mrs. Parker said through her teeth. "We are gonna be late. Take care of this."

"Yes, ma'am," Gabriela said. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

She grabbed the little body around the waist and pulled her away from her father. "Come here, querida."

"Moooommy," Liz cried, her arms stretching out towards her parents as they hurried out the front door without another glance in her direction while their daughter was held back.

As the door closed, Liz's sobs intensified and she sank back into the warm secure body of the housekeeper.

Gabriela pressed her cheek to the top of Liz's head and slowly stroked her hair. "You want hot chocolate?"

Liz sniffled and piped, "I want my mommy."

"Mommy has to go away," Gabriela said in her broken English. "She be back later."

"Why?" Liz whispered. "Why doesn't she want me?"

Gabriela's heart broke at the question, cursing Liz's parents in her head for ruining a sweet little girl's life. "Your parents love you very much. But they have to..eh…what do you say…look after some things."

"But I want them here," Liz hiccupped.

"Yes, Miss Liz," Gabriela said and rose from the floor. "Let's make some chocolate, yes? And watch movie."

Liz sniffled and nodded. Gabriela looked at the sad little face and couldn't for the life of her understand how someone could resist those large sad eyes. Liz's parents were missing out on so much by not even trying to get to know their daughter. She put her hands underneath Liz's armpits and hoisted her up on her hip. Liz wrapped her arms around the housekeeper's throat so tightly that she would've choked the middle aged woman, had she only been a little bit bigger and stronger.

Together they walked into the kitchen to make hot chocolate. Gabriela managed to pull a small smile out of the little girl as she produced marshmallows from the cabinet and her heart warmed.

"Are we watching the movie?" Michael asked as he came around the corner, Max in tow.

Max was looking at Liz as she put marshmallow after marshmallow into her _Beauty and the Beast_ cup.

"Yes," Gabriela replied and placed two full cups of hot chocolate on the counter. "Mr. Max, do you want marshmallows too?"

Max scrunched his eyes towards the housekeeper. It always sounded odd to him to have a Mister in front of his name, but for some reason that lady thought that was his first name. Which was weird, because she called Michael mister too.

"Mr. Max?" Gabriela repeated when he didn't reply.

"Yes, please," Max nodded.

Gabriela smiled. "Okay."

Max smiled back. He liked Gabriela. She was nice.

Michael's house was so weird. His mom and dad were hardly ever home. There were a lot of strange people walking around, cleaning Michael's room for him and their mom didn't cook the food. Gabriela did that.

Michael even had a TV in his room. Max shook his head in amazement when that thought entered his head. They had the coolest house. So many things.

"Mr. Max?"

Realizing that he had managed to zone out again, Max looked up at Gabriela. "Yes?"

"How was school?"

"Good," Max grinned and his thoughts immediately traveled to his day at school where he had been part of winning the soccer game. He had scored two goals.

"Have you seen Adalin?"

Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked down at the brown-eyed girl.

"But ooh," Michael said in exaggerated irritation, "It's _Aladdin_, Lizzie. Not Adalin!"

Liz dropped her eyes in embarrassment as Michael laughed at her. Being six, Max thought his one year older friend was pretty funny and happily laughed along.

"Be nice to your sister, Mr. Michael," Gabriela admonished in such a harsh tone that Michael and Max's laughter came to an abrupt end.

With a sour face at being scolded, Michael turned to Max, "Let's get the Legos and build while we watch."

Max thought that was an excellent idea. "Okay."

Liz wiped some fresh tears out of her eyes and climbed up on the couch, burying herself in the mountain of stuffed animals that she had placed there earlier that day.

Boys were mean.

Twenty minutes later, Liz was not watching the movie very much. Her attention was on the Lego town Mike and Michael were building on the floor, accompanied by sound effects.

"Vrooom," Michael sounded as he pushed his red sports car along the streets. Putting on a darker voice, he said, "Oh no, I'm late for work again. I have to hurry."

"I want a house," Liz announced, now sitting on the edge of the couch, clutching her favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Big Ears, against her chest.

"No, Lizzie," Michael said calmly. "This game is only for boys."

"Can't she have one of your houses?" Max wondered, pointing towards Michael's neighborhood of seven houses.

Michael looked up at Max as if he had gone crazy. "No, she can't. We don't want her playing with us. She'll ruin it all."

"I won't," Liz protested.

"Watch your Adalin," Michael said which caused Max to snicker.

"But…" Liz said. "I always get to play."

She did. Michael and she were always playing together. And her big brother was always nice to her. Not at all like he was today.

"There's no room for you," Michael said. "I only have two cars. I have one and Max has one."

Liz's eyes flicked to Max's dark head. He was the one. He was the one that was changing everything. She wanted Max to go home already, so that she could play with Michael.

She didn't like that Max boy. She didn't like him one bit.

TBC…


	13. Betrayed

Okay, then. Here's a 'near present' one. Since I haven't put up the timeline yet, this chapter is before "Playing with Playboys".

We're going back to the drama...

**12. Betrayed**

The street outside the Crash  
Three weeks before the arrival of Brad Matthews to Roswell  
(2007) Max is 22, Liz is 21

"Let's go to my place," the girl purred into his ear.

He sighed. The night had started out great, but the more alcohol this girl had gotten into her system, the more annoying she had become. All of the things that he would normally be able to ignore had been magnified and were screaming in his face. With alcohol breath.

When her hand wandered down over the zipper of his pants to cup him, he took a step back and placed two firm hands on her shoulders.

"Okay, I think it's time to get you home."

"That's what I've been saying," she slurred. She tried to lean into him again, but his arms held her at a good arm-length. She looked up at him through half-lidded eyes and a pout grew on her glossed lips. "Come on, Max. I wanna fuck."

Max sighed. God knew that's where he had wanted the night to end. He really had some frustrations he needed to get out. He had been spending way too much time at Mike's place, which had ended up with way too many glimpses of Liz's long legs and firm ass in small clothes.

And Jennie, with her chocolate brown eyes and mahogany hair, had seemed like the perfect choice to work some things out with.

Until she had poured a couple too many tequilas down her throat.

"Jennie, you're drunk," he said calmly.

He might be horny as hell, but having sex with a drunk girl wasn't his way of going about things. He had to be drunk himself to do that and he wasn't anywhere close to that point.

"I'm getting you a cab and you're going home."

"But I thought we were gonna fuck. I'm horny."

Max stared at her, his body itching to just turn and walk away. She was starting to wear down on his patience.

"I'm calling you a cab," he stated, picking up his cell phone from his back pocket.

"Come on, baby," Jennie cooed, snaking her arms around his waist, her tongue licking his throat.

He turned to face her, to tell her to fuck off, when something caught the corner of his eye. His heart starting beating faster and he quickly told the address on the phone, before pulling out of Jennie's arms and walking towards the hunched figure.

He recognized her hair, her frame and the sound of her tears.

He faintly heard Jennie yelling at him as he quickly walked up to the figure.

"Kitten?"

She looked up from where her face had been buried in her arms and her red eyes made contact with his.

When she recognized him, her sobs turned more violent.

His heart clenched and he sank down on his knees next to her. Threading his fingers through her hair, he gently pulled her against him. She resisted him slightly at first, but quickly gave up and sank into his arms.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, kissing the top of her head.

She was bunching up his shirt in her fists as fear was quickly creeping into his heart. What had happened? He had never seen her cry like this. All frightening possibilities were striking him almost at once. Was she injured? Had someone hit her? Had someone…raped her?

His eyes closed at this and his arms tightened around her.

"Max…"

Max body shuddered with a shiver of anger as the voice of his earlier companionship broke through their cocoon. The anger returned full force as Liz pulled away from him, her sobs stopping abruptly and awkwardly as she looked up at the brunette woman.

"Oh," the woman said, sounding offended. "So that's why you didn't want to fuck. You're fucking her, aren't you? You know what? You're a jerk, Max!"

Max's eyes darkened in anger. This girl was more stupid than he thought.

"Get the fuck out of my face, Jennie," he said darkly.

Jennie's mouth opened in a second of shock and then she narrowed her eyes. "Fuck off."

With that she spun on her heels and disappeared.

Max turned around to face Liz, only to find her having pulled herself to her feet and was more or less walking away from him.

He scrambled to his feet. "Liz!"

His fingers encircled her arm and he pulled her to a stop.

"Don't, Max," Liz said weakly.

Max frowned. She really wasn't acting like herself. "Talk to me."

"Just leave me alone."

Max walked around her and stared at the crown of her head as she kept her head lowered to avoid meeting his eyes. "Did someone hurt you?"

A tremble went through her and she encircled her waist with her arms. "I just want to go home."

"I'll take you," Max said.

She looked up at him and looked like she was about to protest, but then closed her mouth and numbly nodded her head.

She didn't say a word the whole ride home. She didn't say a word as they walked the stairs to Michael and her apartment. She was completely quiet as she pulled her jacket off her and threw it into the closest arm-chair.

Then she started screaming.

Max watched with a combination of shock and horror as the girl he had known all his life fell to her knees, screaming and hitting her fists against the floor as her body trembled from repressed anger. As he snapped out of it, he sat down next to her, trying to put his arms around her. But she smacked his hands away and looked at him with fire in her eyes.

"_Don't touch me_"

"Lizzie…" he tried.

"Don't call me that," she said, sounding tired again, the anger suddenly dissipated from her whole being.

She fell back on her heels, before she slumped against the wall, her legs splayed out in front of her. Max looked at her, feeling slightly at loss at what to do.

"This is your fault," Liz said quietly.

He frowned. "My fault?"

"I guess I should've seen it coming."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Max asked.

Liz kept talking as if he wasn't really there. "He had this idea that… that…" she threw her head back against the wall, her head impacting the hard material making a dull sound. But she hardly noticed. "Ah, fuck this."

Max narrowed his eyes and crept closer, realization of what had happened dawning on him. "Is this about Sean? Did he do something to you?"

She huffed. "I guess that was the problem. I couldn't keep him interested-"

Max stared at her, then bit out. "He cheated on you?!"

Liz's answering silence said it all and he clenched his jaw. "That fucker."

"I saw it. I walked in on him fucking her in the ladies' bathroom, ten minutes after he had left me on the dance floor." A strangled sob escaped her throat and she continued in a strained voice. "He was fucking her right there – for anyone to see."

Max clenched his fists to control his anger. He wanted to go out, find that idiot and beat him to a bloody pulp. But Liz's teary face stopped him. Liz needed him now, not that shitty boyfriend of hers. Or, presumably, ex-boyfriend of hers.

He moved to put his arms around her and was surprised to once again be pushed away.

"No Max. You always ruin things."

He stared at her in disbelief. "_I_ always ruin things?"

"That's why he cheated on me," she said, angrily brushing tears off her flushed face. "Because of you."

Max looked at her like she had just announced that she had been secretly working as a stripper for the past five years. "Have you gone completely insane?"

"The way you keep looking at me. You think he wouldn't notice? He wouldn't shut up about it. 'What are you doing with Max, Lizzie?' 'Are you cheating on me?' 'Why won't you have sex with me?' 'Have you slept with him?'"

Her voice hitched in her throat and got up from her position on the floor, leaving Max staring up at her.

"Why can't you just leave me alone? Why can't you just forget about it? It was nothing, okay? Nothing. It was a mistake."

He squeezed his lips together so tightly he almost drew blood. He tried to pretend that her words didn't hurt, but they did.

"Don't put this on me, Elizabeth," he said quietly. "He cheated on you because he's a bastard. Whatever he was telling you to excuse his behavior is just lies. I thought you knew me better than that." His voice rose in intensity as he uttered the last words, slowly rising from the floor.

"I _do_ know you better than that," Liz said, firmly keeping eye contact with him as he towered up above her. He was so close she could feel the heat from his body steaming off him. "Don't you think I know? That you want me?"

She stared at him stubbornly, challenging him to give her a good answer, but she would never have expected what he actually did. In one sudden movement, he closed the distance between them and pressed their lips together. He pulled her bottom lip between his, nibbling at the inside with his teeth feeling her melting into him. His tongue licked her upper lip while his hands pressed her tightly against his body.

And then he pulled back.

"You're fucking right I want you," he stated and she looked up at him, slightly dazed, her chest heaving with strained breaths.

Within seconds, she pulled herself together and stepped away from him. "What are you doing?"

"What we both want."

"I hate you," Liz said slowly and watched him flinch. "I mean, we're always fighting. You're always yelling at me. We hate each other. That's what we do."

Because even though she had just accused him of wanting her, she mostly wanted to see how he would react. She hadn't expected him to acknowledge it as the truth.

Max took one long look at her, before deeply inhaling and dropping his head while running his hands through his hair. "Don't you think I've tried to get you out of my head? But you're making it bloody difficult, Lizzie."

"How am I making it difficult? All I ever do is push you away."

Max's face snapped up to her. "See. There's the problem. You push me away, and expect me to go away. But at the same time you're strutting around here wearing close to nothing. Teasing me."

Liz huffed. "Oh, excuse me! This is _my_ home. I think I'm entitled to wear whatever I want. I don't think it's _my_ fault that _you_ can't control your urges."

Max pulled at his hair. "Ugh. For fuck's sake! You're pissing me off!"

Liz stared at him, fascinated by the changes running across his face. She could still taste him on her lips and it wasn't making it easier to resist him. There was something raw and sexual about the frustration and anger rolling off him at the moment.

"Mission accomplished," she murmured. "I'm going to bed."

"So now you're just gonna leave?"

"I'm tired. I just saw my boyfriend of two years fucking a stranger in the bathroom. So yes, I'm gonna leave. I don't want to deal with you right now as well."

She turned to walk away, when he grabbed her arm. She stilled, her back to him, and closed her eyes. Wanting him to force her to go with him. Wanting him to turn her around and kiss her again.

"Just tell me that I'm not the only one feeling this," he said softly.

She squeezed her eyes even harder together. She wanted to. She really did. But it would ruin everything.

"I'm tired. Leave me alone, Max."

Seconds passed without any of them moving and then he slowly released his grip on her. She waited another second to see if he would do anything, but in disappointment she heard him move behind her. Move away from her.

She swallowed and walked into her room, closing the door behind her quietly.

--

It wasn't the first night he had spent at Michael and Liz's place. It was basically his home. He even had his own sheets that he just pulled out on top of the couch whenever he decided to not go home.

Maybe he should've gone home this night, because obviously he wasn't wanted.

In every sense of the word.

He couldn't deny that it was tempting to get out of there, go to a bar and drown his sorrows in liquor and a beautiful woman. God knew he could get them. At least then he could feel wanted.

But for some reason he stayed.

Two hours later he still couldn't sleep and he rolled off the couch to make a bathroom visit. The bathroom was just opposite Liz's bedroom and he momentarily stopped outside her closed door.

As he stood there, he realized that there wasn't complete silence on the other end of the door.

Hesitating only for the split of a second, he quietly opened the door.

The room was dark, her sobs breaking through the silence with piercing accuracy. Without a word, he walked up to her bed, pulled back one corner of the comforter and crawled underneath. She turned towards him and for a second he was afraid of how she would react.

But she just crawled closer to him, curling into his chest as his arms went around her.

He held her as she cried and eventually as her sobs subsided.

"I don't hate you," she said softly.

The corner of his mouth twitched in the darkness and he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "I know you don't, kitten."

"Stay with me."

"What about Mich-"

"He's at Maria's. And it's not like we're doing anything anyway."

"Yeah, right," Max agreed.

"Just sleeping," Liz affirmed.

"Just sleeping," Max reaffirmed.

She curled even closer, if that was even possible, and her legs tangled with his. He could feel the softness of her skin acutely against his skin, just now realizing that she didn't really wear much to bed.

From holding her tiny waist, he had felt the top of her panties and on top she only had a tank top. She was slightly too close to him to wear that little clothes and not letting him explore.

She moved again and he bit his bottom lip as her knee brushed against a very sensitive area. Her movement had him roll onto his back and she moved so that she was semi-draped across his chest.

He looked down at her, meeting her eyes, thinking with clarity he had never had before that she was drop dead gorgeous. And that Sean character was an idiot for treating her that way.

"Max?"

"Yeah."

"Promise me something."

He gently pushed back the hair from her forehead. "Anything."

"Whatever happens, don't leave me."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Just promise?"

"Nothing's gonna happen, kitten."

"Max…"

He sighed. "Okay, of course. I promise."

"Thanks," she whispered and laid her head back down on his chest.

He thought about the oddness of what she had just asked of him for a couple of seconds, before pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.

Within minutes, they were both fast asleep.

TBC...


	14. Caught On Tape

**13. Caught on Tape**

The Evans' Residence  
Thursday afternoon  
(2000) Max is 15

Max followed the muffled sounds of the TV into the living room. A frown of confusion settled across his young features as he laid eyes on the TV-screen, where one toddler was in focus.

He sat down next to his mother on the couch, his eyes not leaving the screen. "Hey mom."

As soon as he sat down, his mother placed an arm around him and pulled him into her side with a smile. "Hello stranger. Where've you been?"

Max put his head on his mother's shoulder, sinking into her comforting warmth. "Just out. What are you watching?"

"Well," his mother's calm warm voice poured into his ears, "I was cleaning out the small cabinet underneath the TV…"

She grew quiet when her son pulled away from her slightly to look at her quizzically. "You were _cleaning_?"

"Hey," Diane warned with an amused smile. "Don't be cheeky to me, young man."

He shrugged casually, sitting back again. "Just seemed a bit…odd."

She laughed warmly, which made Max smile. Her laugh could make anyone smile. "It does happen occasionally. Who do you think takes care of the laundry in this house?"

"Me," he said simply.

"Right. Well, I vacuum."

"Mom, dad does that."

"Sometimes I cook."

"Not to be mean, but your cooking sucks," Max said with a grimace, watching the video camera follow the unsteady run of a two-year-old which he suspected was a younger version of himself.

"I bake," Diane said indignantly, trying desperately to come up with something she could do.

Catching onto her pretend agitation, he put his arm around her and placed a kiss on her cheek. "That you do. The best cakes."

"_Thank you_," Diane exclaimed followed by, "I always knew there was a reason why I love you the most."

"Don't let dad hear that. It'll hurt his feelings."

"I was talking about my kids."

He chuckled. "Mom, I'm your only child, remember?"

She smiled at him and proudly ruffled his hair. "Exactly my point."

"Mooom!" he complained as she completely messed up his hairstyle.

"Touchy," Diane mused and then exclaimed, a finger pointing at the TV screen. "Oooh, isn't she a beauty?"

Max eyes caught onto the dark-haired toddler sitting in the sand. "Who's that?"

Diane rolled her eyes, which he didn't see due to his position next to her, and answered with a secret smile, "Little Lizzie Parker. In all her glory."

Max straightened slightly, his full attention on the little girl. "You have videos of Liz when she was a baby?"

"I know," Diane said slowly. "I had completely forgotten that I had this. This is, if my memory doesn't fail me, when you met Liz for the first time."

He grimaced incredulously. "When she was a baby?"

His mother's smile widened, her head shaking from side to side in disbelief. She had never discussed the matters with her son, because being in the midst of his teen years she suspected a discussion like that might not go so well. But it was obvious to her that her son was quite smitten with the Parker girl. Diane wasn't sure how long ago it was now, but Liz had come by one day with Michael to pick something up and her son's face had been as easy to read as a baby's picture book.

"Yes…" She laughed as her own son, at the time of the meager age of two, ran into the picture and plumped down opposite Liz. "Oh, I remember this."

"What?" Max said distracted, watching Gabriela smile into the camera as Liz rapidly moved her chubby arms up and down with a happy exclamation of 'gooo', an action that almost pushed the purple pacifier out of her mouth.

Gabriela's arms were around Liz's body, supporting the small body while Liz scooped up sand and spread it everywhere with gleeful laughter.

Max was unconsciously smiling as he watched Liz and then saw himself reach forward and pull the pacifier out of Liz's mouth.

He heard his mother laugh next to him and his smile widened. He was expecting Liz to cry as he removed the pacifier, but apparently Liz was not as feisty back then as she was now.

The baby's laughter came to an abrupt stop and she watched with big eyes as Max scrutinized the pacifier before putting it back into Liz's mouth.

"Look at you. You're so cute," his mom said.

Max chuckled as his younger self just a few seconds after replacing it took the pacifier from Liz's mouth again. Liz stilled and looked at the boy that was stealing her pacifier while Max turned the thing over in his hand and then with a determined look leaned forward and put it back into Liz's mouth.

Diane laughed again. "You're hilarious. And Liz is not saying a peep."

"She's changed a lot since then," Max said with a small smile.

"Maybe this was when she got fed up with you?"

"Mom," Max frowned, the smile still present on his lips, "We just met. Are you saying that Liz hates me _now_ because I took her pacifier when she was _one_? At least I gave it back to her."

Just then Max took the pacifier again and Diane chuckled. "You were saying?"

Max sighed. "How many times do I do that?"

He watched little Max now put the pacifier into his own mouth for a couple of seconds, wonder across his face, before pulling it out and putting it back into Liz's mouth.

"If I remember correctly, I had just removed your own pacifier a couple of months before that," his mom said. "So maybe you kinda remembered what it was and wanted to give it a go again."

"That's kinda gross," Max said. "It's like sharing a toothbrush."

"Sharing is caring," his mother quipped good-naturedly.

After having replaced the pacifier yet another time, young Max pulled it out again and older Max sighed. "Come on, give it a rest already."

"Oh," his mother said as Liz's face now crumbled and she started crying. "Liz seems to think so too."

They both laughed as little Max quickly put the pacifier back into Liz's mouth, effectively silencing her.

"You saved the day," Diane said.

Her now 15-year-old son gave her a bright smile, which reinforced something she had known since the day he was born. He was going to have the girls falling all over him. If they weren't already doing so.

"I always do, mom," he answered and gave her another peck on the cheek. "I'm off."

Diane watched him stand up and told him seriously, but with glittering eyes, "You don't have any time for your old mother anymore, do you?"

"I always have time for you," he answered. "Just not now."

She sighed, shaking her head in bemusement. "Where're you off to?"

"Football."

"Try not to break any legs."

"I won't. Love you."

She waved him off. "Yeah yeah. Stop sucking up and buy me some chocolate instead."

"Consider it done."

As he walked towards the door, his mother yelled after him, "And don't tear any ligaments or crush any knees. And protect that head of yours!"

"Bye mom!" Max said with emphasis, laughter in his voice as the words were cut off by the closing front door.

TBC...


	15. Hello, Goodbye

**14. Hello, Goodbye**

Three weeks before the prom  
(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17

Liz heard the floor creak and turned around, pressing a top against her front to hide her naked upper body. When she saw who it was, she said acidly, "What the hell, Max? Get out!"

Max raised his eyebrows in interest as he saw her undressed state and then gestured casually with his hand for her to continue. "No no. Don't mind me."

He unceremoniously flopped down on her bed, arms behind his head as he stared up into her ceiling that was decorated with 'glow in the dark'-stars.

"If you look…" Liz warned.

Max rolled his eyes, staring at the ceiling to emphasize his point about not looking. "It's not like I haven't seen that before."

"I've never-"

"Other girls, Lizzie," Max cut in, "Other girls."

"Well, I don't care if you've seen other girls or not," Liz huffed and Max could hear from the shuffling of clothes that she was continuing her dressing.

He sneaked a peak in her direction, watching the smooth flawless skin of her exposed back. His eyes travelled down her short demin shorts and down her tanned legs.

She turned around to see him watching her and pulled at the bottom hem of her sweater to demonstrate how much she didn't appreciate him ogling her.

"I told you-"

Max waved her scolding away with his hand. "Yeah yeah. Whatever, Shorty."

"What do you want?"

"Can we talk?"

Liz looked at him as if he had gone insane. "Excuse me?"

"I need some advice, alright."

Liz bit her lower lip thoughtfully before shrugging and taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "Shoot."

"See. There's this girl."

Liz looked heavenwards with a big sigh. "Are you gonna tell me about another one of your sexual escapades?"

"Not this time, Lizzie. But I'm stocking up for a good session later."

"Whatever."

Max grinned and then patted the space on the bed next to him.

She considered his invitation for a second, before she laid down next to him, both of them now staring at the stars stuck onto the ceiling.

"You know the new girl?"

"Tess?"

"Yep. So…she's been kinda hanging around."

"You mean; she's been hanging all over you, shoving her boobs into your face."

"Whoa, graphic Parker."

"She's just so obvious. I mean, she's a little desperate, isn't she?"

"Well Parker. That's what guys like," Max said in all seriousness. "We like it when girls throw themselves all over us. It makes us feel manly and important. Top of the pack."

"Yeah, you're all dogs."

Max rolled onto his side and looked at her profile. "I'm thinking about asking her to the prom."

"Really?" she grimaced. "But you barely know her."

"She doesn't really know anyone here yet, but she really doesn't want to miss the prom."

"You fell for that sob story?"

"What do you think of her?"

It was such an honest question that she turned her head to look at him. Seeing that he really needed her opinion on this, she bitterly swallowed her personal hatred for the blonde girl.

"I don't really know her, but I guess she seems okay."

"Cool," Max said and rolled up into sitting position. "Thanks, kiddo."

"You know, she's probably only after your body," Liz said.

Max smiled broadly – and slightly proudly – as he puffed up his chest. "They all are, baby."

--

**On the bus, Tuesday afternoon  
(2004) Max is 19, Liz is 18**

"Oh, it's the biggest news," the blonde announced as she sat down in the bus seat behind Liz.

Liz sighed as the sound level on her iPod was not high enough to drown out the chattering teenagers. Not only had she been forced to rely on public transportation today to get to the mall because her car was being serviced, but now she also had to sit and listen to two airheads.

"I can't believe I've missed it," the brunette friend mused. "I thought he was really off the market this time."

Liz rolled her eyes as she fumbled in her bag to find the iPod. She was just about to turn up the music as a familiar name reached her ears and instead of turning up the volume her finger pressed 'pause'.

"Did you see them at the prom? Tess was like all over him."

"_He_ was all over _her_," the other girl said and Liz grimaced, her heart itching to press 'play' and tune them out but her brain itching to hear the rest.

"And you know what they say about him, right? He's an amazing fuck-"

"-but leaves straight after," the girl filled in and they both laughed.

"I wonder why she stuck around for as long as she did."

"Doesn't matter. They're history now anyway."

Liz straightened at this, her breath caught in her throat. They broke up?

"I guess he got tired of her."

"Which is kinda what he does."

"I wouldn't hold his urge to have one-night-stands against him though," the blonde girl said with a sugary voice. "I mean, if he ever gave me a second look, I wouldn't... You know…"

They both giggled and Liz got lost in her thoughts.

Max broke up with Tess? Liz had been sure they had been in for the long haul. She had encountered the girl just five days earlier, an incident she'd had troubles forgetting, but they had seemed nauseatingly couple-like then.

"He's apparently always up for some fun," the brunette said.

"He's working at the supermarket now, did you hear?"

Liz slid down further in her seat. Didn't these people have anything else to talk about than other people's lives?

"Oooh," one girl exclaimed. "I saw him! He was wearing one of those aprons. Oh God. I thought I would faint. Those ugly things would look horrible on anyone else. I'm telling you; total fashion disaster. I wouldn't be caught dead in something like that. But somehow he looked incredibly yummy."

"Really? I should go there. Maybe mom needs something from there."

"I'm not sure when he's working though."

Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Liz thought and pressed 'play'.

TBC...


	16. Dealing with Dogs

**15. Dealing with Dogs**

The dog kennel  
Wednesday  
(2008) Max is 23, Liz is 22

"Well well well, I never thought I would see the day when Elizabeth Parker would voluntarily pick up dog poo."

Liz rolled her eyes at the sound of his voice behind her and straightened her back, shivering slightly as the smell of the dog's feces reached her nose before she had a chance to close the plastic bag.

Tying a knot on the bag, she reluctantly turned to face him.

He was leaning against his car, arms folded across his broad chest and legs crossed at the ankles as he regarded her with an amused smile. She couldn't see his eyes; they were hidden behind dark sunglasses, but she felt a familiar shiver run through her body.

It was unfair for someone so obnoxious to look so good.

"Yeah, thanks for getting me this job, Evans," Liz said sarcastically, putting on a big smile as she pulled on the lead to direct the dog on the other end away from the roses.

Max bent his head with a small chuckle, scratching his head as he shook his head from side to side in bemusement. "I can't believe you agreed to this."

"I'm fine," Liz said casually, her nose still being able to hint the smell of feces from the closed plastic bag in her hand.

The truth was, she hated this job. All she did all day long was getting gross smelly food for dogs, getting barked and growled at by some dogs, and then had to walk them around on a piece of grass while watching them to see that they had done their business. And on top of that, she had to _pick up_ that business. The worst case scenario she had been able to conjure up when Max offered his help was a job as a waitress. She never fully realized how evil Max Evans could be until he got her the job as an animal caretaker.

"Yeah, you look it," Max agreed and pushed himself off the side of his car.

She was not going to give in on this one. He thought she was a prissy brat so she was going to prove him of the opposite. "Don't you have work?"

He came closer, smiling as he pulled off his sunglasses. She swallowed as his eyes hit hers. He had a way of looking at her, looking _into_ her, that could make her feel warm all over but uneasy at the same time.

"This is my day off."

"And you decided to go to a dog kennel on your day off?"

"Actually," he said, looking down at the poodle that was sitting next to them, waiting for the humans to make a move. "I came to see Serena."

"Oh," Liz said, instantly repressing the surge of disappointment that washed over her. Of course he wasn't here to see her. Who was she kidding? She gave him a tight smile. "She's inside."

He pushed the sunglasses back down on his nose and gave her a brilliant smile. "Thanks."

"Is she your next victim?" Liz asked his back as he started to walk away from her.

Without stopping, he said, "Been there, done that."

His words ripped through her heart, the same way they always did whenever he mentioned the other part of his life; the other girls.

And he once more justified why there could never be anything more between them.

--

"Did you want a ride?"

Liz closed the door to the cage and hooked the leash onto the door. She looked up at Serena as she rose from her kneeled position, giving her a small and uncomfortable smile. "Uhm… you don't mind?"

Serena smiled warmly at her. "Of course not. Max mentioned where you live and it's in the same direction as me. I will be passing by your place anyway."

Right. Max.

Suddenly she didn't really feel like riding in the same car as one of Max's girls. She had enough bad experiences from Max's girlfriends/ex-girlfriends as it was.

"I don't want to be of any trouble," Liz tried, now wanting to get out of this. She really didn't feel up to ten minutes of uncomfortable silence in a car with Max's ex.

"Don't be silly," Serena said and hitched her head in the direction of the front door. "Come on."

"Maybe I should take that Dalmatian out for a wa-"

"I already did that."

"Oh. What about Scotty?"

"Kathy took care of him."

"Alright, and what about-"

"Liz," Serena interrupted her with an amused expression. "If you don't want to go with me, just say so. I just wanted to help you out."

"No no," Liz said quickly and shook her head in denial. "That's not what I meant-"

Serena laughed. "God, Max told me you were slightly odd, but-"

Liz sighed, Serena's words burning ever so slightly. "Right. Then just don't mind me-"

"That's not what I meant," Serena interrupted, her face now serious. For some reason, her teasing words had rubbed Liz the wrong way, which certainly hadn't been her intention. "I'm just offering you a ride here, Liz."

Liz dropped her eyes, taking a deep breath. She was making too much of a deal out of this. She was being rude. "I'm sorry. I just… I'm sorry."

Serena gave her a friendly smile. "That's okay. So, shall we?"

Liz smiled at her, the first genuine smile of the day and nodded. "Yeah."

The smile froze on her lips as Serena asked, "So you how do you know Max?"

"Uhm…he's my brother's best friend."

Serena nodded and Liz could feel her eyes observing her. "Oh. Just that?"

Liz frowned. "What do you mean?"

Serena shrugged with an easy smile. "Nothing." She unlocked the door to the passenger seat for Liz. "He speaks of you as if he knows you really well, that's all."

"Well, we kinda do. Know each other, that is," Liz admitted, and slid into the car. She waited for Serena to open the driver's door before adding, "We have known each other since we were…I guess toddlers."

"Wow," Serena said, starting the car. "That's a long time. I guess you're pretty good friends then?"

Liz cleared her throat, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. "Not really."

Serena glanced in her direction before looking over her shoulder to reverse the car out of the parking lot. "No?"

"We're more…rivals," Liz admitted, wondering why she had the second the words left her mouth. She had never acknowledged that to anyone before.

Other people had said it plenty of times, but Liz had actually never used the term herself.

"Rivals?" Serena smiled, now intrigued.

Liz sank further into the seat, wondering what she had gotten herself into. But for some reason, her lips just kept moving. "He's always on my case. Always annoying me. Sometimes I'm convinced that he has made pissing me off into his life mission."

"That's…interesting," Serena mused, looking at Liz's profile. The cheeks of the girl in the passenger seat had gained some color, flustered with annoyance, indignation, or anger. Serena could only guess which one it was. But for some reason, the girl was getting quite worked up just talking about her brother's friend Max Evans.

"He doesn't know when to shut up. He doesn't know anything about personal space. He doesn't know when to stop acting like my bodyguard."

Serena's eyebrows moved north. "Bodyguard?"

"Yeah," Liz said, staring out at the scenery that sped past her window. "He's worse than my brother. He thinks I can't take care of myself and that he needs to… I don't know…save me from…_everything_."

"That does sound a bit annoying," Serena agreed. She could easily see that being true with Max, but mostly in a positive way.

She hadn't known Max for very long, but since they shared the same taste in music they had already gone to several concerts together. Serena was quite petite and would easily be squashed in the pressure of the crowd if Max hadn't been standing behind her, holding his arms around her and pushing everyone away. It hadn't taken long for Serena to realize that Max was a very considerate person and he was very protective of the people he loved.

It somehow amused her that this girl, a girl that he had known since he could barely walk, saw the qualities that Serena admired as annoying.

"Freaking frustrating is what it is," Liz huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. Knowing that she had probably said too much, she turned to the red-haired driver and asked, as casually as she could muster, "How do you know Max?"

"He's a good friend of mine," Serena answered and saw something close to relief cross the dark-haired girl's face. But there was something else on her face as well. Suspicion?

"Only friends?" Liz asked carefully.

Serena smiled broadly and looked at Liz out of the corner of her eye. "You thought we had a history, didn't you? A romantic history."

The complete relief now flooding Liz's features supplied Serena with the answer, but also opened up some more questions. If the girl found Max so annoying, why was she so worried about him dating someone?

"Max kinda hinted at that."

Serena looked at Liz surprised. "He did?"

"I shouldn't be surprised that he was lying though," Liz said, shrugging as if it didn't really matter, "That's what he does."

"Are we talking about the same guy?" Serena asked dubiously.

"Why?" Liz asked curiously.

"He just doesn't strike me as dishonorable," Serena said. "He seems very upfront about everything."

Liz snorted. "Yeah, he's upfront alright."

Hearing the bitterness in Liz's voice, Serena once again wondered if there wasn't more to the Max and Liz story than what Liz was telling her.

Just then her cell phone rang. Excusing herself, Serena pressed the speaker button. "Serena speaking."

Max's voice rang out loud and clear, and suppressing a laugh, Serena indicated for Liz to be quiet. "Hey Ser, it's Max."

"Well hello there."

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Driving."

"How did things go with Liz?"

For some reason she was not the least surprised that Liz's name popped up so quickly. She winked at Liz, who was listening intently, before answering, "Really well. I really like her."

"She wasn't too much of a…"

Serena arched her eyebrow as his voice trailed of and she could almost feel Liz tensing in the adjacent seat. "What Max?"

"Brat?"

Serena frowned as Liz turned her head to look out the window, tension marked in her body.

"Brat? No, not at all."

"She's just… She doesn't mean anything by it. She's just not used to working, that's all." Max's voice was soft and apologetic and to Serena's ears it was clear that he was only looking out for Liz. But she had a feeling Liz wasn't hearing it the same way.

"She was doing really well," Serena said. "I have a question."

Max sounded surprised, "Okay. What?"

"How well do you know Liz?"

There was a pause before he answered, "Okay, what did she do?"

Serena laughed. "She didn't do anything. Why do you assume the worst?"

"She just has a way of scaring people away," Max answered. "She doesn't give them a chance to get to know her."

"I'm sure you wouldn't have placed her to work with me if you thought she was a horrible person," Serena said.

"She's not a horrible person," Max said softly. "Don't let her fool you that she is."

"Fool me?"

"She likes to put on a show. It's just because she's…scared, I guess."

Liz shifted in her seat and looked over at Serena with a strange expression in her eyes. She was mouthing something and Serena lost her own words as she tried to read Liz's silent ones.

_Please hang up._

"Serena?"

The pain in Liz's eyes had her momentarily dumbfounded, before she answered. "I'm here."

"Everything alright?"

"Max, I have to go. We'll talk later, okay?"

"Okay. I just wanted to know how it went with Liz today."

"Don't worry," Serena said with a weak smile. "Everything went really well. I think we're gonna get along just fine."

"Good," Max said quietly. "That's good. Bye, Ser. And thanks."

"Bye."

She pressed the disconnect button and looked over at Liz. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

There was so much more Serena wanted to ask, but she swallowed the question at the sight of Liz's pale face. They rode the rest of the way in silence.

TBC...


	17. Crossing the Line

**16. Crossing the Line**

Cabin in Wisconsin  
Two days before Christmas  
Max is 19, Liz is 18

"How can you be that stupid?" Liz asked, staring at the TV screen.

"I've seen worse things."

Liz turned to look at him. "Worse than eating your own pee?"

Max nodded, taking a big bite out of his ice-cream cone.

Liz grimaced as her eyes fell on the cone. "And I can't believe you're eating _that_ at the same time."

He smiled at her, ice-cream visible all over his front teeth, and mumbled out around the mouthful. "Dis is delishious."

"You're disgusting."

He refocused his attention on the TV. "But you love it."

"Oh yeah," Liz said sarcastically. "I soo love to watch ice-cream run out of your mouth as you speak."

"You want some?"

She looked at him as if he had gone completely mad and then pointed at the TV. "There's a guy eating a freaking ice-cream made out of a cone and ice that he peed on on the screen and you're asking me if I want ice-cream?"

He winked at her. "It's goooood."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it is."

The last word was drowned by the telephone and Liz jumped off the couch to answer. "'Lo."

Max turned his attention back to the TV where the group of guys continued to do stupid and very dangerous tricks. He snickered to himself. Those guys really were jackasses.

Liz plumped down next to him and he glanced over in her direction long enough to see the frown on her face. "What's up?"

"Michael's not coming home tonight."

Max scratched his eyebrow. That's odd. "Why's that?"

"Apparently they've shut down the road. Due to the heavy snowfall or something."

"Oh… So where's he staying?"

"He's just gonna go to one of the hotels for the night and hopefully he'll be able to get out here tomorrow."

"Okay," Max said simply. That's sounded alright to him. But after watching the movie for another ten minutes without a single comment from the usually very chatty Liz Parker, he looked over at her just to see her blue expression. "What's with the face?"

She raised her eyebrows at him, the innate defensive side of her nature flashing in her eyes. "This is how I look. Get over it."

Ignoring her comment, Max said, "I'm right here with you. I'll protect you."

The last sentence was said with a grin, but the truth of the message came through loud and clear.

"Michael will be fine," he added. "He's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

"I know that," Liz said, rising from her seat.

Max watched her back as she started to walk away from him. "Then what?"

"It's nothing," Liz said, disappearing behind the kitchen counter of the open kitchen area.

Max and Liz were in a cabin that Liz and Michael's parents had rented for them for Christmas. Probably to ease their feelings of guilt about not having time to spend Christmas with their kids. Not like that was anything out of the ordinary for the Parker kids. However, now they were old enough to be on their own without being supervised by nannies, housekeepers and other serving staff.

And now it seemed like it was only going to be Max and Liz.

"You're not afraid of me, are you?" Max joked, but the grin froze on his face as he saw her turn her back on him as he walked up to the kitchen counter. She was acting strangely. "You're not, right?"

She laughed. "Of course not."

Liz rarely laughed at anything he said.

"Kitten? What's up?" he asked, his voice now serious.

"Not everything is about you, okay?" she said, her voice partly muffled by the refrigerator as half of her body was inside trying to find something to eat.

"Oh, sorry, I thought it was," Max said lightly, watching her closely.

"Fine." She slammed the refrigerator door closed, took a glass for the juice she had just retrieved and came to stand in front of the counter, and him, to fill it up. "It's just… I've never celebrated Christmas without Mike, you know. I don't think I can ever do that."

Max's heart rate slowed down and he felt himself relax. It wasn't worse than that. He could deal with that.

Even though Liz had never personally told him so, he knew how important the holidays were to her and especially that she got to spend them with her brother. Part of that was probably because Liz and Michael really only had each other. Their parents had not been part of the picture since Liz was ten years old; always away on business trips, holidays or staying in any of their other three houses spread around the world.

The only blood relative Liz had around was Michael.

"They'll have the road cleared before Christmas, Lizzie," Max comforted.

"What if they don't?" Liz asked, looking at him with such worry in her large brown eyes that he felt his heart skip a beat.

"Well, if they don't, I'll go out there myself and dig a hole for him to go through, how's that?"

"Doofus," she mumbled, but there was a smile on her lips.

"Now, how about we do something fun? We might as well enjoy ourselves when Mike's not around."

Liz looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"

Max wiggled his eyebrows suggestively before stepping up to the bar cabinet and with a loud 'ta-da' flung the doors open. "Alcohol, Lizzie. Lots and lots of rich people's alcohol. And your parents are paying for it!" Taking in all the alcohol with glittering eyes he added. "Man, your parents really suck on the parental side of things. But I must applaud them on this. They don't mind leaving their kids in close vicinity of vodka and tequila."

"That's a bad thing, Max."

He shrugged. "I'm gonna see it as a sign."

She sighed. "A sign of what?" already fearing what he was going to say.

"A sign telling us that we should do the right thing and drink all of this stuff."

She raised an eyebrow. "All of that? Tonight? Really, Max. That's a bit optimistic even for you, don't you think?"

"Have you ever played a drinking game?"

She looked at him carefully. "Eh…"

He smiled at her. A smile that he had no idea of how much it affected Liz's breathing. And he wouldn't know until years later. "Come on, kiddo."

"Don't call me that."

"Fine. Shorty."

Sigh. "Your persuasion skills sorely need updating."

"It's either 'Jackass' or the drinking game."

Liz glanced over at the TV-screen where stunt guys were still doing utterly retarded acts and shivered. After that pee-ice cone she never wanted to see anything else that any of those guys did.

She exhaled loudly. "I can't stand another second of that movie."

With a large smile, Max started removing bottles of alcohol from the cabinet. "This will be fun, kitten. I assure you."

"Yeah, yeah," Liz grumbled. But a rush of excitement still went through her.

She would never consciously acknowledge it, but it gave her some relief to know that Max seemed fine with her drinking, even inviting her to drink, despite what had happened a couple of months earlier at the pool party when she had become dangerously drunk and Max had been less than happy.

But who said she was going to get drunk anyway?

But looking at the number of bottles Max was lining up on the table, she knew that this night was gonna end in hangovers in the morning.

Placing a die on the table, Max stated, "The rules are simple. The number you roll is the number of shots you have to take. If it's an even number, you split with the other person. If it's an odd, you drink it all on your own."

Turning a chair back to front and sitting down to straddle it, Liz nodded. "Okay. What are we drinking?"

"Let's start with tequila."

She shook her head and smiled at him with amusement.

"What?" he laughed.

Looking innocent, she grabbed the die. "Just line them up."

One hour later, Liz was not doing so well. Well, she was winning. Which in this game mean that she could barely stop laughing at Max's jokes.

"That's not even funny," Liz giggled.

"Then why are you laughing?" Max asked while trying to fill up some more shot glasses without spilling.

"I'm hot," Liz said, drastically changing the topic.

"Uh-huh," Max agreed, tongue sticking out at the side of his mouth as he deeply concentrated on filling the glass.

Liz stood up from the chair, not even noticing as it fell over behind her with a bang, and started to pull on her sweater.

Max looked up from the glass, the liquor still pouring from the bottle and now onto the table as he stared at Liz. "You know, you don't have to remove clothes in this game. But by all means, go ahead."

"It's warm. I'm warm."

As the sweater moved up over her chest, the tank top she had on underneath followed along, revealing the bottom of her laced bra before she had time to discard the sweater and pull the tank top down again.

This didn't go unnoticed by Max. He straightened, suddenly feeling very hot himself. How come he hadn't noticed before how warm it was in this room?

"Yeah, you're right," he said, taking a hold of the back of his sweater and pulling it over his head. "It is hot in here."

Max Evans might be drunk, drunker than he'd been in a while, but nothing could stop him from feeling Liz's eyes caress his naked upper body. Unlike Liz, he wasn't wearing anything underneath his sweater.

"Do you work out?" she asked slowly, intense eyes roaming his body.

He grinned. "You like?"

She scrunched her eyes up, looking at him with utter disbelief. "You get that body from playing football?"

"Yep."

"Wow," she said softly. "That's… wow."

"Stop drooling, Parker."

She rolled her eyes, trying to redirect her eyes from his chest to his face. "Come on. I've seen better. I was just surprised that's all. I mean, you were pretty scrawny looking the last time I saw you."

Eyebrow raised, he looked at her dubiously. "You've seen better?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Who?"

"Jack."

Max narrowed his eyes. "Lewis?"

"Uh-huh."

"Yeah right."

"Oh, you wouldn't be able to tell. You're a guy. Only girls can fully appreciate male perfection."

"Perfection, huh? You call Jack's body perfection?"

Liz bit her lower lip, nodding. Not that she had ever seen Jack Lewis' body. But she had heard enough gossip from other girls to know that he wasn't all that bad on the eyes. On the other hand, she wondered if those girls had ever seen Max's body, because God…

She sighed dreamily, something that Max misinterpreted as her swooning over the memory of Jack's body and he quickly stepped around the table so that he was standing in front of her.

She looked up at him in surprise, her muddled brain slowly wondering how he had moved so fast. She was hit with the smell of his cologne around the same time that his hand grabbed hers and brought it up to his chest.

Her breath hitched in her throat as he pressed her hand against his right pectoral, just above his nipple.

She swallowed.

"Feel that," Max more or less commanded, his voice dark. "Did Jack's body feel like this?"

Oh God.

Her fingers itched to move along the large expanses of his pectorals, but she didn't dare to.

She had touched Max several times before, in the midst of fighting over the remote control to the TV or pushing him away as he was trying to steal her lunch in the school cafeteria.

But those incidents had always involved him being covered up and had lacked the almost suffocating energy that suddenly appeared to be simmering around them.

Her mouth felt dry. "I've never-"

"Or here?" Max said, moving her hand down across his abdominal muscles.

Her breaths were shallow and fast as she stared at where her hand was molded against his hard muscles, his warm hand pressing up against the back of her hand, keeping it in place.

"Was he the one?" Max whispered.

Her eyes snapped up to his dark ones as he voiced the question. "What are you talking about?"

And just as soon as the question left her lips, she knew. He thought Jack was the one that presumably had sex with her. Just because she hinted that she knew how Jack Lewis' torso looked, Max Evans assumed that Jack had been the one to take her virginity.

Was he angry? She cocked her head to the side, watching him with wondrous fascination. Why would he be angry? Even if she had seen Jack's body naked, it would've been her own decision to do so and he had nothing to say about it.

Was he jealous? She squinted her eyes and looked closer at him, her intense stare stopping him from answering her previous question.

Which left room for another one of hers. "Are you jealous?"

He huffed. "Of Jack Lewis?"

"Of me being with another guy," she said evenly.

He looked at her in silence for a long time before answering seriously. "Yes."

Oddly enough, she wasn't as surprised by the answer as she thought she would be. "Why?"

He continued to look at her in silence before he let go of her hand and walked away from her.

"Max?"

"Stay away from me."

She frowned. "What?"

Did he really think that he could just storm off after all of this? Considering all the drinks she had just had, she was suddenly feeling strangely sober and she wouldn't let him just walk out on her. That was _her_ job.

"You shouldn't be around me right now," he said, his voice muffled as he walked into his room.

"Why's that, Max?" Liz asked as she followed him into his room.

Before she knew what was happening he had spun around and was pressing her up against the wall. His breath was hot against her face as he whispered, his eyes haunted, "Because I can't control myself around you."

Her breaths felt harsh in her windpipe and she could feel the warmth of his body flooding her system. "What do you mean?"

He closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against hers. "Don't ask so many questions, Parker."

She looked at his closed eyelids and the long dark lashes resting against the top of his cheeks, feeling the world spinning around her.

"What's happening?" she whispered and watched his eyes slowly open and amber met chocolate.

"Is it always gonna be like this?" His voice was husky and she couldn't hide her shiver from his body that was intimately pressing hers up against the wall.

"I don't know what you're-"

"But you do," he interrupted. "I need you. I fucking need you."

A tremble of fear raced through her. Fear that things were about to change. The uncertainty that came with knowing that things were about to change in the next couple of seconds.

"Max…"

His hands cradled her face as his lips feathered across hers and he sighed. "Christ Lizzie."

Her heart was aching. Her whole body was aching. She needed him too. Always had. But she didn't have the courage to do anything. Too much was at risk. Too much was always at risk with Max Evans.

She looked into his eyes again, meeting the look of pain in there, and decided to take that step that she had feared since that day in Ryan Anderson's closet.

She leaned forward, holding his gaze with hers, and fused their lips together. His lips drifted closed as she slowly traced his upper lip with the tip of her tongue, but her eyes remained open. They were open to watch every changing nuance of each and every emotion running across his face as she tasted his mouth.

He didn't let her work solo for too long before his hands cradling her face angled her towards him so that he could fully enjoy her soft lips. Before long, he pulled back, mumbling, "Jesus, I'm so drunk."

"Don't stop," Liz murmured, grabbing the ears she had made fun of two years earlier and pulling him back to her.

The kiss heated up within seconds and Max's hands wandered down Liz's back and grabbed her ass, pulling her up against him. She wrapped her legs around his hips and let him kiss down the front of her neck, pushing the straps of her tank top and bra to the side as he went. They fell off her shoulders, providing him with plenty of skin to feast on.

She moaned, her body arching into his as he trailed his tongue along the upper edge of her bra, which was visible above the edge of the loose tank top that was starting to fall down due to the lack of supporting straps.

"So soft," he murmured.

"Don't stop," Liz repeated, because on some level she was afraid he would do just that.

Max's mouth latched onto a small birth mark in the cleavage between her breasts and he groaned as his body stiffened even more with desire. Without separating his lips from her skin, he started to pull her tank top upwards, which eventually forced him to part from her skin to remove the piece of fabric and be presented with more of Liz's smooth skin. Shooting a glance up at her half-closed lids and the pleasure painting her face, Max moved his hands behind her back and unclasped her bra.

Her eyes met his as he removed her breasts from their entrapment and the look of insecurity in her eyes made him hesitate for a second. Then he glanced downwards and got a view of her perfect – absolutely perfect – breasts and thrill ran through him. A crushing need to taste her, to kiss every inch of her naked body and watch her face fall apart as he moved inside of her, flooded his senses.

The little princess that he had grown up with. That he had loved to hate. She was perfect. She was absolutely gorgeous. Which he couldn't stop himself from saying out loud.

"You're magnificent."

She laughed softly, his choice of word funny, but mostly the laughter was due to the relief that came with him liking what he was seeing. She was so afraid he would be disappointed. "Magnificent, huh?"

"Fucking marvelous," he said with a boyish grin that had her melting in his arms.

She looked him straight in the eye and told him seriously. "Touch me, Max."

He swallowed. He had been with a lot of women, but for some reason he was nervous. He just really didn't want to screw this up.

Keeping his eyes on her face, he moved his thumb across her nipple, feeling it go hard beneath his touch.

She whimpered, trying to inch closer to him which had the lower part of her body wriggling around in an area where he was highly sensitive at the moment. The movements caused him to spin on his heels and drop her on the bed with a groan, his own body falling on top of hers as it was pulled down by her legs still wrapped around his waist.

He lifted his body slightly off hers, missing the feel of her naked breasts pressed up against his chest immediately. Resting his weight on his elbows, he cradled her face between his hands and pushed the hair away from her face.

"Tell me to stop," he whispered and then groaned as she pushed her hips up against his. "Christ."

"I won't," she answered and then pushed at him so he fell over onto his back.

Surprise written all across his face, he watched her as she climbed on top of him, straddling his waist. This put her breast pretty much on a level with his eyes and before he was able to stop himself he leaned forward and pulled one nipple into his mouth.

Liz head fell backwards as she leaned into his mouth. Her whole body tingled. Goosebumps raced across her skin as his hands moved up along the sides of her abdomen, pulling her upper body even closer to him.

His tongue slowly trailed down the center of her stomach, tickling her bellybutton before he moved back and looked up at her. His breathing was loud in his ears, his heart throbbing hard against his ribs as he stared up at the goddess straddling him.

She pushed his hands to the sides and placed her hands on his chest, inhaling deeply as she moved her fingers across the ridges of his upper body. She wondered how his skin could be so soft, yet when she pressed on it there was only muscular hardness underneath.

Max watched her face intently as she ran her fingers across his chest. The combination of her languid strokes with the emotions flickering across her face only served to further heighten his sexual excitement.

Then she bent her head and his eyes closed with a moan as her wet mouth touched his skin. The tip of her tongue circled his nipple, which had him restlessly moving on the bed as he hardened, if possible, even more.

Her tongue trailed down his abdomen, mimicking what she had done to him earlier, and stopped as she reached the upper border of his jeans. He could feel her warm breath against his skin, breathing in and out, before he felt her hands opening the button and slowly pulling down the zipper. He fisted the sheet in his hands to stop himself from flipping her over and driving into her right there and then. He didn't know what had happened to his beautifully constructed control. He felt like he completely had lost his grip on everything.

He lifted his hips off the bed to help her remove the jeans. As he looked up and met her eyes, the air left his lungs.

Her eyes were large and dark. Her lips red and her face flushed.

She was gorgeous.

Her mouth was slightly open and her breasts moved up and down with each shallow breath. But there was something about the way she was looking at him that told him to take over.

Using his elbows, he pushed himself up into sitting position, coming face to face with her. He took a hold of her hips and pulled her as close to him as he could and then smiled gently at her as his thumbs brushed across her flustered cheeks.

"Are you okay?"

She was acutely aware of each breath she took since her almost painful nipples rubbed against his chest with every one. She could feel how much he wanted her pressing up against her and it felt like she was going to explode any second.

She gave him a weak, breathless smile. "Peachy."

He pulled her mouth to his, fusing their lips together and coaxing her body to move against his with restrained passion.

Still kissing her, and supporting her back and head, he turned them around and lowered her onto her back. He pulled away from her lips and sat back, straddling her thighs. Looking at her closely, he moved his hands to the button of her jeans and pushed it open. She consistently looked into his eyes, her eyelids growing heavier along with her breathing as he pulled the zipper down and took a hold of the top of her jeans to pull them down her hips.

He momentarily stood up to completely remove her pants, before he crawled back onto the bed, his eyes still locked with hers. His hands feathered along her hips, over the only piece of fabric that was still covering her and pushed his hands inside her panties, just over her hip bone, pulling the piece of fabric downwards.

A tremble went through her body and he focused on her eyes again. "Do you want to stop?"

She bit her lower lip, restless energy rushing through her, torturing her. Knowing that he was the only one that could fix it, she shook her head.

His fingers feathered along the sensitive skin of her inner thigh, moving slowly towards the apex of her legs.

Her hips impatiently rose from the bed. "Please," she mumbled, her eyes now closed.

His fingers brushed over her wet center and she inhaled sharply. Max swallowed deeply. God, she was sensitive. He moved his fingers through her folds and she cried out in a deep moan. He closed his eyes to regain some inner control. He was so hard it was painful.

"Max," she whimpered and he brushed his thumb over her clitoris. She drew a shaky breath and thrust her hips up against him.

"You're so wet, baby," he whispered, his fingers stroking her before dipping into her core.

Liz shook her head desperately. "I can't, please…"

He pulled away and bent down to retrieve his wallet from the floor. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Liz lean up on her elbows, watching him as he dropped his boxers and put the condom on.

Liz stared at him, wondering how this was going to work. He was too big. It was going to hurt. But for some reason she didn't really care. Right now he was taking too long time.

"Hurry," she moaned, which elicited a smile from him as he crawled on top of her, flushing every naked inch of skin of his body with every naked inch of skin of hers.

He positioned himself at her entrance, dipping into her slightly, which caused her breast to arch up into his chest.

He kissed her. Christ, she tasted good.

His lips brushing against hers with every word, he looked her deeply in the eyes and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Make love to me," she whispered in a tone that gripped his heart. "Don't go slow."

Kissing her again, he pushed into her hard.

It was when he moved through her still intact hymen that the world came crashing down around him. He stopped, watching in something akin to horror the pain flash across her face, and he whispered, "Jesus, Lizzie."

She looked up at him, a lonesome tear running out of the corner of her eye. "Don't stop. Don't you dare."

"You're a virgin?" he asked.

She nodded wordlessly. It was not like she could fool him any longer.

"Why did you tell me that you were not?"

She had anticipated him to perhaps be angry with her. She had not expected the sadness and pain in his eyes.

"To shut you up," she said carefully.

She could feel him so acutely inside of her. He wasn't moving a millimeter, yet there was no mistaking that he was inside of her. A feeling that was amazing at the same time as it was scary. And a fear that he was going to pull out just because she had lied to him gripped her heart.

She watched him swallow and close his eyes. She felt him breathe deeply as his torso moved against hers, the friction heavenly and bittersweet.

His eyes opened, regret floating in the spheres of golden amber. "It was not supposed to happen this way. Not your first time."

She grabbed the back of his head then, threaded her fingers through his dark hair and pulled his reluctant head towards hers. Catching his lips with hers, she kissed him thoroughly, trying to pour every ounce of desire into that kiss.

"I want you, Max. Please. Move."

He couldn't help but smile at the command in her voice because it sounded so much like the girl he fought with on a daily basis. And it was just what he needed to hear to relax.

And with that he pulled out of her slightly, only to push right back in. She gasped at the sensation, her body protesting ever so slightly with pain with each movement, but the feeling of having him moving inside of her soon overrode the soreness.

He was gentle with her at the same time as he was passionate. He kissed every part of her face, her eyelids, cheeks, forehead, nose, chin, lips, as they together built up towards the climax. His large warm hands caressed her arms, bringing them up above her head and lacing their fingers together as their bodies moved faster. His fingers feathered down the inside of her arms to brush along the sides of her upper body, slowly moving up and down, while his tongue made love to her mouth. His hands cupped her breasts, brushed across her nipples and moved upwards to cradle her face.

Amongst moans and gasping sounds that sounded very much like names, Liz Parker fell apart in Max Evans' arms.

As their bodies, tired and sweaty, came down from the high, Max gently kissed Liz's mouth. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't say that," she whispered, tears in her eyes.

Tears because she had inadvertently caused him pain and regret, but mostly because she realized that he might not have taken it this far if he had known that she was a virgin.

"Does it hurt?" he asked softly, his hands floating down her abdomen, unbeknownst to him causing her to react to him all over again.

"No," she answered, caressing his lips with the tip of her finger, a touch of wonder in her movements.

He was beautiful. He thought that he had hurt her, but he had taken care of her better than anyone else ever could have.

"It should've been with someone you loved," Max said, shamefully averting his eyes from hers as he uttered the words.

A cold shiver had goosebumps break out across her skin at the vulnerability in his voice and she shook her head. "I'm glad it was you."

He looked up at her with confusion and before he could say anything, she smiled at him gently. "I wanted it to be you."

Those had been the last words exchanged between the two lovers. Liz had fallen asleep curled up in Max's arms, but when he had woken up three hours later she had been gone. He had found her sleeping in her own bed and had gone back to his own cold bed with a crumbling heart.

Max never knew that Liz had watched him for an hour before leaving the warm comfort of his body. He never knew that she had traced her finger down his bare chest, softly crying about what had happened.

He never knew that she had fallen hard for him that night. He never knew that she had been denying her feelings up until that point, but after that night there was no way she could deny that she was in love with him.

Max only subconsciously knew how Liz had kissed his lips, had stroked the hair away from his forehead and then whispered 'I'm sorry', as he was in deep sleep. He never knew how she had curled up into a ball in the middle of the cold bed in the room assigned to her, shaking with silent tears. He never knew that she had been awake when he quietly pushed the door open to look in, as she was holding her breath and biting her lip until she drew blood to stop herself from calling him over.

He never knew.

Michael returned home early in the morning, leaving no chance for Max to talk to Liz. It was like it never happened.

TBC...


	18. An Unexpected Visitor

**17. An Unexpected Visitor**

Max's Bedroom  
Wednesday afternoon  
(2003) Max is 17, Liz is 16

The miniature ninja aimed an accurate kick to his shin and Max looked down, not knowing if he should be scared or laugh. But he was closer to fear than laughter seeing that this little ninja had followed him around for like forever and he had the eerie ability to get through locked doors.

Max desperately scanned his surroundings, trying to locate the door to get out of the room again. But for some odd reason, the door he had gone through had disappeared. Looking down at the ninja again, he stiffened with fear as the person brought out a large sword from behind his back and aimed it for his leg.

Just before the sword sliced through his tissue, Max jerked awake.

"Hey," her voice said and he found himself staring up into her dark eyes, his heart beating a mile a minute and cold sweat moistening his forehead.

As soon as he came awake he became aware of the aches in his muscles, the headache, the dizziness and the odd heat that made him freeze.

Wordlessly, he watched her sit down on the edge of his bed, keeping her eyes on him.

What was she doing here?

"How are you feeling?" she asked and he was surprised by the softness of her voice.

Was he still dreaming?

"Like shit," he answered.

"You look it," she replied.

No, this was very much reality.

He chuckled, which elicited a violent cough. As he stilled, she was leaning over him with a glass of water in her hand. He was acutely aware of her body pressing into his.

"Thanks," he mumbled and greedily gulped down the water.

"I brought your stuff from school," she said, pointing to some place next to the bed. Max couldn't be bothered to turn his head. His head hurt when he tried to figure out how she knew the combination to his locker.

"You brought me homework, Parker?" Max mumbled, his mouth still feeling annoyingly dry.

He still hadn't quite gotten over the shock that she was here. She hated sick people. They grossed her out. She had told him this on several different occasions. So why was she here?

"'Thank you so much, Liz, for bringing my homework'," Liz said, imitating his voice.

He was too tired to glare at her and instead just closed his eyes with a deep sigh.

"You look disgusting," she said to his closed eyelids and he smiled inwardly. There was the girl he remembered.

His eyes still closed, he said softly, "Gee, Parker. You really have a way to make sick people feel better."

He could picture her scrunching her nose up in that thoughtful way she sometimes did. "It's just gross. All those germs spilling out everywhere."

He opened his eyes and locked eyes with her, giving her a lope-sided smile. "So I guess a hug is out of the question then?"

"Eh," she said as if he was stupid, "yes."

"How was school?" Max asked, licking his dry lips as he pulled the blanket closer to his chin. It was freezing in here.

"Pam was caught with her skirt down in the Eraser room."

Max shook his head. No surprise there. "Sounds like fun. Was she on her own?"

"Tom Basil."

Max nodded. That made perfect sense. "Right."

Liz shrugged. "Other than that. Nothing special. That was really the big thing today. You didn't miss much."

"Good," Max mumbled. Not that he was particularly worried. If he hadn't been feeling like crap, he wouldn't have minded to stay at home. Except for the football, school was not really his favorite place to hang out.

"Uhm, I got you something," her timid voice brought his attention back to her and he looked at her curiously.

Was that shyness?

"What's that, kitten?" he asked.

"It's only a loan, okay?" she said, some of her normal pushiness slipping back into her voice.

He frowned. Uhm. Okay. "Sure."

She disappeared from his field of vision, only to pop up a second later with a big box that she placed on the bed, next to his prone body.

He recognized the box immediately. He had seen her paint that particular box when she was around six when she had accumulated a total of three comics and had decided to start a collection.

Max was looking at Liz's highly valued _Phantom_ comics collection. She wouldn't let anyone get near it. It was her most prized possession.

But for some reason she had brought it out of her house, possibly brought it on the bus to get to his house and into his room. All that to…lend it to him?

Max stared at her. "You're lending me your Phantom comics?"

She bit her lower lip and nodded, avoiding his eyes. "I figured you might be bored. And since you don't have a TV in your room," she shrugged, "I thought you needed something to read."

"Lizzie," he was speechless. "Uhm…thank you."

Her face slowly changed into the tougher exterior she normally carried. "But if you damage any of them, you're a dead man."

He had to struggle not to laugh at the seriousness in her eyes, because he was pretty sure that would have her immediately stomping out of the room, holding the box tightly in her arms.

"Thanks Lizzie," he said honestly, which had her smiling.

"Sure."

"Now all I need is a hug and my day will be complete," he said with a broad grin.

She rolled her eyes. "In your gross disgusting dreams, Evans. No way I'm getting infected with your germs."

He smiled. "It was worth a try."

"You know who you got it from, right?"

Max frowned. "Got what from?"

She waved her hands over him. "This disease."

"Eh," he looked at her slightly confused. "Not really."

"That Meg girl," Liz said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That Meg girl," Max repeated slowly before a moment later catching on to what she meant. "You mean the girl you saw me with in the bathroom?"

She met his eyes stubbornly. "Yeah."

Max cocked his head to the side. Why was she bringing this up? "You think she infected me?"

"Yeah," Liz answered. "God knows how many she's been with. Seriously Max, sometimes your lack of judgment baffles me."

"It baffles you, huh?"

"Yep."

"Last thing I heard, the flu was not transmitted through sex."

"But close contact will spread it. She's sick too, you know."

"Really?"

"Yep. She was not in school today."

"Why are you keeping track on her? I thought you hated her."

"I'm not keeping track of her!" She was offended. "I just happened to find out that she wasn't in school."

"Let's be serious here, kitten," Max said with a grin. "You're jealous."

"Ugh," Liz sighed and stood up from the bed. "Screw you."

"No. Since we're on the topic anyway. What kinda stunt did you try to pull in there? As if _anyone_ would even for a second believe that I'm gay."

She shrugged. "I thought I would give it a try."

"That's fucked up."

"You sure looked worried though. I'm sure you weren't that certain that no one would believe it when Meg – very quickly actually - started to believe it."

"She's not the brightest crayon in the box."

"You had sex with her!"

"Well, you kinda forced me to."

Liz laughed. "What? Are you insane? I _did not_ force you to do anything with that girl."

"I had to prove that I was straight!"

The intensity of his voice had another cough attack assail him and he disappeared into the covers as he coughed harshly.

He noticed her hand on his shoulder when he stopped.

"Are you okay?"

The area where her hand was connected to his T-shirt was warming up and he nodded. "Yeah."

"Good," she said shortly, not sure what to do with herself anymore and quickly pulled her hand away from him. "Well, as much fun as talking to you about your sex adventures has been, I have to go. Some of us have homework."

"Thanks for the comics, Parker," Max said softly, trying to catch her eyes one last time. But she effectively avoided his eyes as she gave a small smile.

"That's alright. Take care of them. Or else…"

He put his hands up in front of him in a frank defensive gesture. "Message received."

She looked pleased and nodded. "Good. See ya!"

"Yeah," Max mumbled, his eyes following her departure. She stopped briefly in the doorway and he caught the concern in her eyes before she realized he was looking.

"Bye," she said and disappeared.

Max pulled himself up into more of a sitting position, pulled the box into his lap and removed the lid. He slowly traced the top magazine with his finger, feeling the glossy surface slide easily beneath his finger. Liz could've just entrusted him with her child; this collection meant that much to her.

And Max had no idea how he had earned the privilege to touch, let alone read her comics.

That girl was just a mystery to him.

TBC…


	19. The Ball is in Motion

**18. The Ball is in Motion**

The Apartment  
Saturday evening  
(2004) Michael is 20, Max is 19, Liz is 18

Liz tiredly threaded her fingers through her hair as she walked down the hallway towards the kitchen. Their voices increased in volume as she got closer.

"But that wouldn't matter, would it?" Maria said.

Michael grumbled, "I hate ties, woman!"

Liz bit back a laugh as she saw Maria's eyes darken and she mentally prepared herself for the explosion, but Maria saw Liz first which distracted her from her everyday bickering with her boyfriend.

"There she is!"

Liz's eyes narrowed suspiciously. What were they up to now?

"Hey Maria," she said cautiously and continued up to the kitchen counter. Pulling out a glass from the cabinet she turned on the tap and pushed the glass under the stream.

"What are you doing tonight?" Maria asked.

Liz put the cold glass against her lips and took a mouthful of the cold water, carefully observing Maria's excited face over the brim of the glass. She shrugged in silent response as she continued to gulp down the water.

"When was the last time you did something fun?" Maria asked with infectious enthusiasm that, unfortunately for Maria, Liz was immune to after all years spent in the girl's company.

"Well," Liz said calmly and turned on the tap to refill her glass. "I beat Mike on 'Underground' yesterday. That was kinda fun."

Michael sighed in irritation, not particularly appreciating being reminded of his mortifying moments of defeat in X-box games.

Maria sighed exasperatedly. "Your brother doesn't count, Lizzie."

Liz eyes widened with the sudden memory and she exclaimed, "Oh, but if you had seen his face yesterday. And the profanities… Dear Lord."

Maria gave Michael a look that by some miracle stopped him from responding and turned back to Liz with staged calmness. "Alright. Let's try this again. We're going bowling. Do you wanna come?"

Liz brightened. She loved bowling. She hadn't gone bowling in ages.

Maria smiled as she saw the light in Liz's eyes. "Is that a 'yes'?"

"I'll come," Liz said simply and put the glass on the counter. "Let me just grab my jacket."

--

**Roswell's Bowling Alley**

Liz reveled in the sounds of the bowling balls hitting the pins as she entered the bowling alley. It was such a relief to get out of the apartment. She had been holed up in there for too long.

Maria came up from behind and hooked arms with Liz. "Come on, Liz. Let's find some shoes."

If she had stayed around for another five seconds she would've seen Max walk through the main entrance, but as it was she missed the surprise on Michael's face as he saw his best friend approach and their casual greetings. She also missed the blonde girl that trailed closely behind Max and how Michael politely greeted her.

"It's a good thing that bowling is so much fun," Maria said as she and Liz exited the shoe area and walked towards the bowling lanes, "because there's no way I would otherwise put on _other_ people's sweaty shoes." She shivered for emphasis. "Gross."

Liz was just about to announce her emphatic agreement when a high pitched laughter disrupted her train of thought. Her head slowly turned in the direction of the laughter while Maria walked into Liz as she her body came to an abrupt stop.

"Liz, what-?" Maria said confused as she pulled back from Liz's stiff body.

She followed Liz's eyes and felt the good mood wash off her as her eyes landed on Max's steady girlfriend.

"Liz, I-"

Liz took a deep breath, but her voice somehow managed to come out weak as she asked, "What are they doing here? What is _she_ doing here?"

Maria shook her head quickly. "We didn't invite them. I promise. I don't know why she's here."

Pulling out of her frozen state, Liz spun on her heels and walked back towards the shoe area. "I'm leaving."

"No," Maria said, her desperate eyes falling on Michael as he approached them, probably with the intention of getting some shoes himself. "Michael!"

He frowned at her distress and asked sharply, worry hidden behind his irritation, "What?"

Maria pointed at Liz that was pulling the shoes off her feet. "She's leaving."

"She's _what_?"

Before he could turn to walk up to his sister, Maria grabbed a hold of his jacket and hissed into his ear, "What the hell is _she_ doing here?"

He looked at her confused. "Who?"

"_Tess_," Maria said, looking at him as if he was stupid.

He shrugged. "I dunno. She came with Max."

"Did you invite them?"

He opened his mouth to respond and then changed his mind, glaring at her. "What's wrong with you? We've been out with Max and Tess before. You could've told me you had a problem with her."

She smacked him over the back of his head with the flat of her palm which had his eyes darken. "_Maria_."

"_I_ don't have a problem with her," she hissed and then added in a grumble, "At least not anything that's relevant right now."

"What the hell are you on, Ria?" Michael asked, looking over at the shoe area when the dull sound of rubber hitting metal carried over to where he was standing with Maria. Instead of placing the shoes on the metal shelves like any normal human being, his sister was throwing them against the shelves before sitting down to put her own shoes back on.

Michael shook his head in disbelief. What was wrong with these women? Looking down into the fiery eyes of his girlfriend he realized with clear certainty that he would never really understand the female species.

"Think, Michael. Think!" Maria said, louder now than before.

"So she doesn't like Max," Michael sighed resigned. "We already know that. But they can co-exist most of the time. They've bowled together before without throwing the balls at each other."

Maria sighed loudly, "Oh. My. God," thinking of how dense Michael could be at times, "Tess, Michael. Tess. Liz hates Tess."

A light was turned on in Michael's eyes and he brightened with understanding. "Oh yeah."

He had actually caught onto that fact, but since Liz hadn't had any contact whatsoever with Tess in several months, he had conveniently forgotten about it. After all, his sister had a problem with a lot of people.

Liz walked up to them, her lips in a tight line and determination in her eyes. "Mike. I'm going home. See you later. Have fun."

"Wait. Liz."

Liz stopped and sighed before turning to face her brother. With exaggerated calmness she asked, "What?"

"I'm sorry about Tess. I didn't invite her. It was just a coincidence. They happened to turn up here at the same time, that's all." He gave her a light smile, shrugging nonchalantly. "It is Roswell after all." He was implying that Roswell was not the largest place and between the Crash, the cinema and the bowling alley there really wasn't a lot to do around here, but his attempt at lighting the situation wasn't very successful.

"I'm sorry, Mike. I can't stay."

"We don't have to play with them," Maria said and looked at Michael for verification. "Right?"

Michael shook his head quickly, smiling reassuringly. "Right. We've paid for separate lanes already. Tess and Max will be on one, and you, Maria and I will be on another one."

Liz pondered this for a moment. She really wanted to play. But even though it had been months since she had last seen Tess, their last encounter constituted a sharp memory in her mind. She had really wanted to see the movie back then and look at how that had turned out. Was she just fooling herself to believe that today would be any different?

"Come on," Maria pleaded with her. "We'll ignore them."

Once again she looked at Michael for his support and he, wisely, caught onto his girlfriend's pointed look and said, "Yeah. They're not even here."

Liz looked down at her shoes as she realized that she was standing in old gum and she absent-mindedly started to try and scrape it off with the tip of her shoe. "Uhm…"

"We're here to have fun," Maria said. "Don't let her ruin that."

Liz bit her lips together. Maria had a point. Who did Tess think she was anyway? That she could actually get away with scaring Liz away? Without even needing to open her mouth? Liz gave a mental huff. No. Tess was not going to win this one.

Liz straightened and a hesitant smile started to spread across Maria's lips as she saw the determined – and slightly competitive – expression on her friend's face.

"Let's go," Liz said with a hard tone and returned to the shoe area to retrieve the slightly abused shoes from the floor.

--

Max was surprised to see Liz there. It was not like it was something out of the ordinary. He knew she loved bowling and it was not like she never went outside the apartment. Still it felt weird seeing her. Outside of the apartment.

Since he had started dating Tess things had been different. He couldn't really put his finger on it, but something had changed between him and Liz. He could trace it back to that night when Liz had started to cry outside her bedroom door after he had yelled at her. Her teary face had haunted his dreams for several nights thereafter, guilt making him question his part in that whole thing and what had really happened.

He had not brought Tess over again. Maybe he had been a bit foolish to think that he could bring his girlfriend over to Michael's place in the first place, but it hadn't seemed wrong to him at the time. He spent so much time at Michael and Liz's apartment anyway so what difference did it make if he brought another person along?

But somewhere along his sleepless nights it had dawned on him that even though Tess kept assuring that everything had been fine between her and Liz, things were not fine between them.

As a consequence, he had not seen much of his arch nemesis these last couple of months. He had still come over without Tess after the movie night incident but things had been different. She had been distant. Cold. Granted, she was not normally overly friendly towards him, but there was always emotion there. She laughed at him with deep mockery, she yelled at him with burning eyes, she teased him with warmth and disliked him with open intensity.

But lately, there had been nothing there. And if they even started a conversation it quickly went dangerously downhill because he intentionally relentlessly provoked her just to get the smallest hint of emotion out of her. It usually ended with her wordlessly walking back to her room and locking the door behind her.

He knew that he was staring right now. But he couldn't help it.

For the first time in months, Liz Parker's face was animated. Emotions were shifting across her features so quickly that he couldn't keep up as she walked up to them.

"Max," she stated with disdain and he had to struggle to get himself back to his normal self.

"Parker. Who let you out?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, which had his heart beating a fraction faster because that was the most of a response he had gotten out of her in ages. Turning to Tess, Liz smiled. A smile that sent shivers down Max's spine but which he suspected no one could tell apart from a genuine smile except him.

"Hello Tess. Nice to meet you again."

Max was standing so close to his girlfriend that he could feel her stiffen next to him, something that made him frown. Maybe Tess _had_ been able to read the fakeness of Liz's smile after all.

"Liz Parker. I didn't know you liked bowling."

Liz's smile was glued to her face as she retorted, just as sweetly, "I'm just full of surprises." Donning a contemplative expression, she added, "I don't think I've ever seen you here before though. Do you come here often?"

"Tess is kinda new at this," Max interjected and looked at Liz's face intently to catch her eyes when she looked at him. But she never did.

He deliberately put an arm around Tess' waist and pulled her closer to his side. "But she's learning really quickly. I think she's a natural."

Max bit back a smile as Liz desperately tried to hide the nausea she was feeling. She was putting on a good act, he had to give her that, but Max had tickled her enough times just after she had eaten to know how Liz looked like when she was about to vomit.

"Oh, that's great," Liz said and slightly turned away from them to look at the score board where Maria had finished adding their names. "Okay then. Well, good luck."

Tess walked off to get herself a ball and Max took a step closer to Liz, "May the best man win."

She glanced up at him, rebellion burning in her eyes. "Oh, you're on."

Max watched her as she picked up her ball and felt the weight in her hands. He felt an odd sense of relief about being able to compete against her again. He continued to watch her as she chose a second ball for herself so she wouldn't have to wait for the first ball to come back. He watched as she pushed a strand of hair, which had escaped her ponytail, behind her ear and how she smiled at her brother when he playfully pushed her to the side so that he could put down his own bowling balls.

Liz didn't know she was being watched.

Max didn't realize that he was practically staring.

Tess was silently watching from a few feet away, anger smoldering beneath the perfectly touched up surface of her face.

--

"Oh, what was that?" Liz said, leaning into Max in feigned deafness with her hand behind her ear to magnify whatever sound he might allow to cross his lips.

But Max didn't say a word which had Liz smiling at him. "That's what I thought you said."

Because Liz had just defeated Max – for the third time. It didn't matter that they were not even part of the same game because when the final score came up on the different boards the comparisons started. It didn't even matter that she only beat him with ten or something points each time. All that mattered was the she could rub the victory in his face.

Tess' lack of points was, of course, a welcomed bonus. But Liz wasn't going to even address that. That was another territory altogether. Didn't stop her from secretly enjoying it though.

"Best out of eleven," Max said, his dark eyes catching hers.

Her eyes glittered as she snickered. "Maxie Maxie. I thought we said best out of _three_."

"I changed my mind."

Liz stepped closer to him to inform him of that they hadn't paid for that many rounds when Tess stepped up on Max's left side, rudely reminding Liz of the fact that she wasn't alone with Max.

"Max," she pouted, her finger lazily dragging along his arm. "Can we go home now?"

"Hang on, Tess," Max said absent-mindedly, not really paying any attention to what she was saying as he waited for Liz to agree or disagree to his preposition.

"There's no time for another eight rounds, Max," Liz said, her eyes darkly following Tess' touches.

Tess looked up and caught Liz's eyes before Liz had time to look away. Tess smiled smugly and put both her arms around Max's waist, wrapping herself possessively around him.

Liz swallowed back the nausea and focused on Max's voice as he answered, "Nine then."

"Maaax," Tess whined. "I'm bored."

"Just a sec," Max told Tess evenly, his attention still on Liz. He had barely noticed Tess' grip on him.

"Hmmm," Liz said slowly, purposefully focusing on his face to try and block out whatever Tess was doing in front of her. "Let me see." She made a show out of looking away with a frown of concentration on her face as she appeared to be doing mental calculations. "I think I've won _three_ times now. That means that I would only have to win _twice_ to beat you out of nine."

"So?" Max challenged, his eyes trailing across the blush of her cheeks thinking that she looked absolutely stunning when she was exhilarated.

"Could we leave now?" Tess asked and this time Max actually realized that she was talking to him and brought his arm up to his face to glance at his watch. He frowned as he noticed Tess' arms around him. What was up with her? She was never this clingy.

"We've paid for another fifteen minutes," he answered.

Tess sighed. "I'm bored. Can't we leave anyway?"

Max turned to his girlfriend and told her gently, "What about you go and get something to eat, okay? It's on me. You don't have to play anymore."

Tess' face darkened and she shot Liz a sour glare, which Liz professionally pretended to not have seen. She smiled up at Max and said, "Okay, baby."

Curling a hand around the base of his neck, Tess pulled his lips down on hers.

Liz found herself gasping for air and had to turn her head away. Did Tess ever stop?

"See you in fifteen," Tess said sweetly and walked away with Max staring at her departure in startled confusion.

"Really grateful to get away, wasn't she?" Liz said with controlled acidity in her voice.

Max turned, scratching his head as he looked at her. "Something's up with her tonight."

Liz rolled her eyes. "Isn't that obvious?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What?"

"Come on, Evans. All the classic signs are there."

His eyes darkened in irritation; annoyed that she was taunting his intelligence. "Spit it out, Shorty."

Liz shrugged and breezed past him. His body stiffened as he got a whiff of her subtle perfume. "She's staking her claim."

He almost sputtered the words out, "She's _what_?"

Liz started to hit the buttons on the panel and quickly changed Tess' name into her own. "She's just a tiny bit jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?" He stepped up to her and pulled her hand away from the panel. "What are you doing?"

She looked up at him incredulously, her heart pounding with the heat of his hand holding onto hers. "I'm changing the names. I don't want to be Tess."

"Aren't you playing with Michael and Maria?"

Liz raised an eyebrow and hitched her chin in the direction of the neighboring lane where Michael and Maria were caught up in a heated act of tongue dueling. "I doubt I'll be able to get through another round in fifteen minutes with them like that."

Max grimaced in disgust. "They really shouldn't do that in public."

She smiled at him. "Come on, Evans. Let's see what you got."

Twelve minutes later, Liz was pointing at Max with a triumphant laughter, "Sucker!" after having hit her third strike in a row and thus finished off her part of the game.

Max still had two rolls to go, and maybe a third one if he got a spare or a strike on the previous two. If he managed to get three strikes he would win, something he was very aware of as he positioned himself in front of the lane.

"You'll never do it!" Liz said to him, trying to make him lose by hacking away at his self-esteem.

He clenched his jaw tightly and swung his arm backwards in a perfect arc as he bent his knee and let the ball roll.

Instead of watching the ball hit the pins, he turned and watched Liz's face of disgust at the sound of the ball hitting the pins and he knew that he had gotten the first strike.

"That's one," he said and smirked as she looked back at him.

Appearing unaffected, she raised her eyebrow in mild disinterest, crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back in the plastic chair.

Max chuckled as he lined himself up for the next round. And hit another perfect strike.

Liz couldn't hide her anxiety as well this time and she slowly rose from her chair, stepping closer to the lanes where Max was picking up another ball to go for the third round.

He swung his arm and was just about to let go of the ball when Liz stepped up next to him, her breath sudden and warm against his ear as she whispered, "You'll never beat me."

The ball clunked against the lane as he dropped it more than slid it and he turned to the smiling Liz, not knowing if he should yell at her or kiss her. He chose the first option. It seemed to be the least complicated one. "What are you doing?"

She bit her lower lip in a motion so innocent that a shudder of pure desire blazed through his body. "Nothing."

They both turned their head at the noise of falling pins and both watched in surprise when Max managed to pull off the third strike.

Liz's chin dropped in shock while Max turned to her with the biggest grin she had ever seen. "You were saying?"

She forced her mouth closed and swallowed. "I still win. Three out of four."

"I'll pay for another hour," Max said his challenging eyes only an inch from hers. He could feel her quick breaths on his face as she looked up into his eyes.

She licked her lips, her breath stilling on her lips as she believed she saw something flash in his eyes. "What about Tess?" Not realizing the double meaning of her question.

In the span of two seconds, his face hardened and he took a step backwards with a sigh. "Right. Tess."

"Your girlfriend," Liz supplied, her fists clenching at her sides in an effort to get her breathing and heart back under control.

"I should take her home," Max mumbled, avoiding her eyes.

Suddenly feeling cold, Liz watched his hurried movements as he started to pick up the balls to put them back on the shelves. "Yeah."

Liz looked back at Maria and Michael who were still in a lip-lock and sighed. She needed to go to the toilet.

"Maybe another time," she said to Max who gave a distracted nod.

Feeling oddly rejected, Liz hugged her middle as she walked quickly to the ladies' bathroom.

The cold water felt refreshing against her skin as she let it splash across her face. She looked up into the dirty mirror, which probably hadn't been cleaned in a couple of months, and took a deep breath.

"Who the hell do you think you are?"

The voice didn't surprise her as much as the tone as Liz slowly turned to see Tess standing just inside the door, the swinging door still swinging behind her.

"Excuse me?" Liz said tensely.

The blonde walked up to her, her chest moving quickly up and down in rhythm with her anger. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

Liz stared at her. Did Tess really expect her to answer that truthfully?

"Uh, Tess. I have no idea what you're talking-"

She laughed bitterly. "Right." Her laughter ended as soon as it had started and her eyes grew darker. "Keep your filthy hands off Max."

Liz felt like laughing. This was ridiculous. "What?"

"You heard me."

Liz frowned, amusement in her eyes. "Are you _threatened_ by me, Tess?"

She laughed. A high-pitched, slightly hysterical laugh which had Liz taking a cautious step back. "What is there to be threatened by? Tell me, _Liz_," she bit Liz's name out as if it was something disgusting that should be spit at and buried five feet under, "aren't you still a virgin?"

Liz felt like she had been hit in the gut. She inhaled deeply and took another step back.

"I've never actually seen you with anyone so unless you had a one-night-stand or something," she looked Liz over with condescending eyes, "which seems highly unlikely considering how you look, you're still a baby."

"Get out," Liz squeezed out between tight lips. She felt like she was suffocating. She didn't even try to figure out why Tess' words affected her so, but it didn't change the fact that she didn't appreciate _anyone_ talking to her about her sexual status.

"He doesn't want you, you know," Tess said. "Why would he want to touch someone as inexperienced as you? I don't know why you even try. It makes you look like a whore."

It was so fast that neither of them noticed before it was over. One second Liz was standing stiffly in front of Tess, the next Tess was pressing her hand to her burning cheek with shock in her eyes and Liz slightly shook her burning hand.

"You hit me?" Tess whispered, slowly getting over the shock. "You fucking hit me?!"

"You have no right," Liz said, not aware of the tears in her eyes. "You have no right to call me a whore."

"The way you're all over him is _disgusting_," Tess bit out. "Don't you think people can see how you behave? But in case you haven't noticed, he's mine. _Mine_. So stay the fuck away from him."

"I can do whatever I want," Liz said in a low voice, taking a step closer to Tess.

Having the slap fresh in her memory, Tess wisely took a step backwards, but her lips pulled away to reveal her teeth as she snarled, "He wants us to move in together."

The air rushed out of her lungs and Liz stared at the girl. "What?"

Tess smiled triumphantly at Liz's shocked expression. "That's right. He asked me yesterday if I wanted to move in with him."

"The hell he did," someone said from the doorway, causing both Tess and Liz to look towards the girl that had just entered.

"I suggest you leave right now," Tess snapped.

Maria quickly walked up next to Liz. "What are you doing, skank?"

Tess' mouth fell open at Maria's abrupt rudeness which provided Liz with a second away from Tess' attention so that she could take a deep breath.

"Who are you calling a skank?"

"You prefer ho?" Maria asked calmly but Liz could feel from the tight grip Maria had on her elbow that Maria was far from calm.

Maria could be scary when she protected the ones she loved.

"I can't believe Max is hanging out with losers like you," Tess said.

"Losers, huh?" Maria retorted. "Liz here has known Max since she was one, okay? If it came down to it, I'm pretty sure Max would choose Liz over you in a second. You are nothing in comparison."

However, Maria's smug slowly slid off her face as Tess' face, instead of turning angry, brightened. "Is that right?"

"Michael and Liz are his best friends," Maria said, her voice having lost some of its confidence as she saw Tess looking confidently at the quiet Liz.

"What do you think, Liz? Would Max choose you or me if it came down to it?"

When Liz didn't answer, Maria looked over at her friend worriedly. It wasn't like Liz to be quiet when that type of question was thrown her way.

"Liz?"

"Oh wait," Tess said with a smirk. "I think that already happened. Let me think. Yes, it was _you_ that Max yelled at when we watched that movie. And, yes, I believe it was _me_ that he went home with that night. And let me tell you, he sure showed how much he wanted _me_ that night."

"You fucking slut-" Maria started, but Liz grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her towards the door.

"Let's go."

"What? No," Maria protested. She looked back at Tess that was watching them victoriously. They couldn't let Tess win the argument!

"Please Maria," Liz pleaded and pushed them both through the swinging doors.

Maria bit her teeth together. She might give up for now, but there was no way she was going to let this one slide. She was going to make a very important phone call to Max later.

--

**Max's Apartment  
Two hours later**

Tess languidly stretched out on the bed, dressed in a red tank top and grey shorts, as Max hung up the phone. "Who was that?"

Max slowly turned and looked at her. His voice being the epitome of calmness, he asked, "Is there anything you'd like to talk about, Tess?"

She frowned at him with a light smile. "What do you mean?"

He leaned back against the small table. "There's nothing you want to tell me?"

She slowly rose into sitting position, looking at him incredulously. "No, silly. Come over here. I'm getting lonely."

She was unaware of how his jaw tensed and how his arm muscles tightened as he gripped the edge of the table he was leaning against. His voice was controlled as he said, "Don't you think we should be able to have an open conversation with each other if we are moving in together?"

She stilled and stared at him, caution slowly creeping into her eyes. "Max, I-"

Max slowly pushed away from the table, but didn't approach her further. "Did you tell Liz that we were moving in together?"

She tried to laugh, but the desperate helpless noise escaping her throat poorly resembled a proper laugh. "What? And you _believe_ her?"

"Why shouldn't I believe her?"

Anger flashed across her face. "Because _I'm_ your girlfriend!"

He shook his head, still not showing any emotion on his face. "No you're not."

Whatever response she had expected, that wasn't one of them. She stared at him, before she spluttered, "What did you say?"

"That was Maria on the phone," he informed her evenly. "Excluding the lie about us moving in together, you apparently also called Liz a whore."

Tess' eyes widened. "_She_ called me a slut!"

"Before or after?"

"Before or after what?" Tess asked tersely.

Max turned around and slammed his fist into the table, making Tess jump in fright. When he turned his eyes back to her she physically recoiled from the anger in his eyes. "Don't play games with me, Tess."

"You're scaring me," she said, tears glistening in her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about, okay? Liz was in the bathroom when I walked in. I just told her that she was good at bowling and she turned around and called me a slut."

Tess swallowed anxiously as she watched Max's fists clench at his sides. With a low warning grumble, he said, "Don't lie to me."

"Why do you believe her over me? I thought you loved me."

Her voice was loud and bordering on hysterics, which only further fueled Max's anger. "Maria told me-"

"Maria lied!" Tess screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Don't you see? Liz has a thing for you. She would do anything to get you for herself. She's trying to get rid of me."

His voice was cold when he said, "But I wasn't talking to Liz, Tess. This was Maria."

Tess snorted as if that was the most ridiculous thing he could say. "Maria is in on it, of course. They made up this absurd story to break us apart. Why would I start a fight with Liz? Why would I even need to lie about us moving in together?"

"You tell me," he said slowly, his eyes almost black with barely controlled anger.

With a scream, Tess jumped off the bed. "Fuck you, Max! Be reasonable."

He laughed humorlessly. "Reasonable?"

"You're gonna break up with me because two girls said that I called them whores?"

"Not just 'two girls'," Max bit out.

She stared at him for a second before she with frustrated screams pounded the wall with her fists. Max just watched her, not saying a word, while he waited for her to stop.

She spun around, her face red and her hair wild. "Do you love her?"

He looked at her dubiously. "Do I what?"

"You do, don't you?" she hiccupped. "You love Liz, don't you? That's why you don't believe me."

"This is not about Liz," Max said.

She raised two perfectly trimmed eyebrows in disbelief. "Oh really?"

"This is about you lying to me, Tess. This is about you insulting my friends."

"Why do you even care about her? She's got nothing to offer you. She so…" she pulled at her hair and sighed in frustration, "boooring."

"She's my friend," Max bit out tightly.

"And so…unpredictable. She's like a five-year-old. She cries and she screams and-and- She so annoying."

Max raised one eyebrow at the screaming and crying girl in front of him right now, momentarily considering the irony.

"And you know what?" Tess continued her monologue. "She _is_ a slut."

Max felt himself tighten as blazing anger ignited every cell in his body. Her name came out as a warning, "Tess…"

"She's always standing so close to you. She's a… She doesn't have an ounce of shame in her body. She fully flirts with you – in front of me."

"I suggest you stop right now," Max said coolly.

But Tess didn't stop. "She's desperate. Just because she can't get laid she tries to steal other people's boyfriends-"

"Fuck, Tess! Shut up!"

Tess' mouth clammed shut as Max's voice bellowed across the room. Suddenly he was in front of her, his hands positioned on either side of her head against the wall, forcing her to push herself up against the wall. His breath was warm against her face while his eyes were ice cold.

"You have no idea who Liz is."

"I'm just telling you what I see-"

He narrowed his eyes which effectively silenced her. "You're an outsider, Tess. Liz is not. Liz holds a part of me that you can never do. You have no idea what Liz has done for me and you shouldn't speak about things you don't know anything about."

"Max-"

"I'm not done," he cut her off. "What happened that day?" There was no mistaken to what day he was talking about. "Why was she crying?"

"Because you yelled at her?"

"Don't tempt me, Tess," he warned darkly and she swallowed. "She was upset when she left after your conversation but I brushed it aside because you said everything was fine. Was it, Tess? Was everything fine?"

"Yes!" she cried stubbornly.

He lifted his right hand and hit it forcefully into the wall next to her and said eerily calmly, "I'm gonna ask you again. Why was Liz upset?"

"You said it yourself," she said defiantly. "I don't know Liz. So how am I supposed to get her tantrums?"

He took a deep breath, considered asking her again, but then tiredly pulled away from her. "Go home, Tess."

Her face turned worried. "Max, what-"

He turned away from her, raking his hands through his hair, thoughts about Liz and his own behavior already ripping into his conscience. "It's over Tess. Go home."

"Come on, Max," she said, trying to make her voice light. "We're just having a fight, right? You don't mean-"

He turned around and looked at her coldly. "If you ever approach Liz ever again…"

He left it hanging, but it was enough for Tess to take him seriously.

Taking a deep breath as anger flooded her system, she snapped, "You're completely fucked up! You know what? I'm glad to get out of here because you're completely fucked up."

With that she ripped the bedroom door open and stomped out. He sank down on the bed as the sound of the front door slamming shut echoed through the apartment.

TBC...


	20. Dating the Stalker

**_Thank you for the feedback!!_**

**19. Dating the Stalker**

**The Apartment ****  
****Friday evening, in the beginning of January ****  
****(2005) Max is 19, Liz is 18**

"That was still fucked up."

Liz reached out to close the slightly ajar bathroom door as she heard the front door open and the voices of her brother and Max slipping into their apartment.

Michael and Liz had lived there for almost a year, and she loved it. She loved the independence, the freedom and the fact that she could come and go as she liked.

Something that she was about to discover wasn't always true when her brother and his best friend decided to add themselves to the mix.

"Wouldn't you have gone back?" Michael's voice asked. "He ended up in a freaking wheelchair and she ended up with that dude."

Liz leaned into the mirror with the mascara brush aimed for her eyelashes. She always found this particular step tricky. It was not as if she had a lot of practice. She rarely ever used make-up. But she thought she would give it a go today.

The door open behind her, almost having her smear mascara on the top of her cheek and she met Max's eyes in the mirror.

"Ooops, sorry," he mumbled before doing a double check and noticing her dolled up face. Instead of walking out like he had been about to do, he casually leaned against the doorframe and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Going out?"

She dropped her eyes to the brush and focused on pushing it back into the black fluid. How was it that whenever he was around, the air seemed to be sucked out of the room leaving them with a throbbing vacuum?

"Yes," she replied shortly.

He folded his arms across his chest. "Maria?"

She swallowed, not really sure why she was nervous all of the sudden. "I have a date."

She looked up just in time to observe the surprise flicker across his face followed by the hardening of his gorgeous facial features. "A date?"

She put the mascara down on the small ledge below the mirror and slowly picked up the translucent lip gloss. "Uh-huh."

She felt his eyes on her as she slightly parted her lips to apply the glistening product.

"With who?"

She briefly met his dark eyes in the mirror before putting down the lip gloss as well. "Sean."

She could tell that he hadn't expected that. Sean had always had a thing for Liz. Liz knew it. Max knew it. The whole school probably knew it. But Liz had never shown any interest back. Quite the contrary, she had always sighed and complained about how he would more or less follow her around everywhere. The stalking part was not really appreciated by Michael and Max. Which might be why Max was now looking at her like she'd gone crazy.

"Sean? As in Stalker Sean?"

"He's not a stalker," Liz objected, threading her fingers through her hair to smoothen it out.

His face turned pensive and he looked at her quietly, which had her trying to find something to occupy herself with. She picked up the blush and swirled a large brush into it before applying it to her cheeks.

"Is this because of me?" he asked quietly, which had her lowering the brush and looking at him through the mirror.

She felt a shiver run through her and she lowered her eyes to regain control. She suddenly felt like crying. Because this was because of him. Everything was because of him. About how she couldn't get him out of her head. About how she couldn't stop thinking about that night. About how they couldn't ever do that again. Ever.

"No, Max," she answered softly.

She turned around and he straightened from his leaning position, his eyes pleading with her for something. She didn't dare to look into his eyes long enough to decipher what that might be.

He stepped up to her, as close as he could get without touching her. "Why did you leave?"

She swallowed. "Please Max, just let me go."

"Was I too rough?"

She shivered at his guilt-ridden question and before she could answer, he continued, "If I had known-"

She looked up at him then and filled in what she thought he would say, "-you wouldn't have done it. Yes I know."

He shook his head. "No, that's not-"

"Max," she said, feeling like her voice was running dry. "If you had known, you wouldn't have touched me."

He looked at her with wide eyes, begging her to understand. "Lizzie-"

A tear rolled down her cheek, bringing some black residue from the mascara that had yet to dry along. "We were drunk. And we obviously made a mistake. It was not meant to happen. I'm sorry that I lied to you, but the fact still remains that if you had known that I was a virgin, you wouldn't have even considered sleeping with me. But you thought I was not, so you just wanted to have some fun."

"Liz," he said seriously, "You mean mo-"

She shook her head, interrupting him. "Don't, Max. You don't have to give excuses. I know that you like to have fun. I was just another girl for you to have fun-"

"Fuck, Parker," Max interrupted, his voice gaining intensity. "Don't you ever compare yourself to those other girls!"

Her mouth tightened as she forced her tears back. "What did you think it was? _Love_?"

"What's going on?"

They simultaneously turned towards Michael's voice, finding him staring at them oddly.

Liz tried a smile. "Hey."

"What are you talking about?" Michael asked harshly, noticing the moisture in Liz's eyes and the hard-set tone of Max's jaw. He turned to face Max, with warning in both eyes and voice. "Man, I understand that you have some odd battle to sort out from back when Liz took your bike without asking or something, but if you hurt her-"

"Relax, Mike," Liz interrupted quietly, which had Michael looking at her oddly. "He wasn't doing anything."

Looking past her large hurting eyes, Michael noticed the make-up. "Where're you going?"

"Out," Liz said shortly, retreating back into her shell by the harshness of his voice.

"With who?"

Liz resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Great. She didn't only have one big brother. She had two. "No one."

"Stalker Sean," Max filled in, which had Liz sending a death glare in his direction and Michael's face blossoming with anger.

"Sean Guerin?"

Liz nodded, biting her lip to stop her from screaming at both of them to leave her alone.

"What the hell, Liz?" Michael bit out. "That dude is weird." He huffed. "You even told me so yourself."

"He's not that bad," she mumbled. All that mattered was that he wasn't Max.

"Not that bad?" Michael asked heatedly. "He slipped messages into your locker for about a year."

This would normally be when Max intervened. But not tonight. Tonight he was on the same page as Michael.

"Pictures of himself," Michael added before Liz had a chance to open her mouth.

Max obviously didn't know this piece of information and she jumped as his hand whisked across her arm, sending goosebumps in all directions. His voice was soft as he more or less begged her to, "Please don't do this."

"It was not like they were naked photos or anything," Liz said angrily, brushing Max's hand away. "Only of his face."

"_It's weird!_" Michael erupted, frustrated that he wasn't getting through to her.

He didn't realize, however, how determined she was to start a new life. How desperate she was to get Max out of her head. How positive she was that getting a distraction - like Sean - into her life would kill that ache inside of her.

Liz looked him straight in the eyes and said evenly, "I'm going, okay?" It wasn't really a question.

In a way she was happy that Michael had shown up, because Max couldn't back her into a corner with Michael around. He couldn't use those eyes of his to convince her to not go out with Sean. But of course, with Michael here, she had to deal with Michael.

"Where are you going?" Michael asked tightly.

Liz sighed. "Dinner and a movie."

"Drive in or regular?"

Liz sighed again. If she had known it was going to be this difficult to go out on a date she would've sneaked out way before they were due home. "We will go and eat. I will make sure to keep my hands to myself. I will sit nicely opposite him and only make _safe_ conversation. Then we will walk to the movies. I might let him hold my hand. We will sit down in the cinema and share a bag of popcorn. We will watch the movie. Then he will probably walk me home and I will tell him goodnight."

Michael stared at her, perhaps even angrier than before due to her sarcastic tone of voice. But before he could retort, she brushed past him, grabbing her handbag from the table in the hallway.

"Don't wait up!"

As the door slammed behind her, Michael turned to Max. If Max had expected him to discuss Sean, he was in for a rude surprise. "What the fuck is going on between you two?"

At a complete loss of words, Max looked at his best friend.

"You think I'm stupid?" Michael asked. "All fucking times I walked in on some odd conversation between you two and you look like I've just caught you having sex or something."

Max dropped his eyes at this, internally telling himself to take deep breaths.

"Did you do something to her?" Michael asked, and Max could feel his burning eyes on the top of his lowered head. "Cause God help me if you do anything to her-"

Max raised his head and met his eyes evenly. "I haven't done anything to her."

Michael stared at him, his eyes probing to try and find any untruths in Max's statement. "Then why has she been crying herself to sleep every night for the past week? Actually, ever since we came back from the cabin."

Max looked worried and Michael frowned as something else flickered across Max's eyes. "She's been crying?"

"Did you have sex with her?" Michael asked so bluntly that Max took a step back.

"Michael, I-"

Michael grabbed a hold of Max's collar and pushed him hard into the wall. His face was only an inch from Max's as he growled, "Did you have sex with my little sister?"

"No, Mike," Max forced out. "I haven't had sex with Liz."

Michael looked at him for a second and apparently what he saw pleased him because he let go of Max's collar and took several steps backwards.

"Fuck Michael," Max said, pushing shaking hands through his hair. Was this part of why Liz had pushed him away? Because she knew how Michael would react?

"Sorry, man," Michael said, but there was still a coldness to his voice.

"Seriously, Mike," Max said, looking up. "She hates me."

Michael huffed humorlessly and shook his head. "That's the thing, Evans. She doesn't."

Michael turned and walked down the hallway, leaving Max alone with his thoughts.

_She doesn't_


	21. My Rollercoaster

**20. My Rollercoaster**

**Wednesday - A couple of hours after Serena dropped Liz off ****  
****Phone conversation between Serena and Max ****  
****(2008) Max is 23**

"Hey Max, it's Ser."

"Hey. What's going on?"

"I need to ask you something. And you might think I'm crossing some imaginary line by doing so, but I have to ask."

"What is it, Serena?"

"Were you in a relationship with Liz?"

Silence.

"Max?"

His voice was distant and cold as he answered, "I don't mean to be rude, but that's none of your business."

"She kinda made it my business."

"She told you?" There was obvious surprise in his voice and Serena couldn't blame him. After all she had only known Liz for three days.

"So there was something there?"

Pause. "You tell me."

She didn't recognize his voice. His normally warm tone was now defensive, like an anxious dog that would bite your hand off if you moved too quickly. "She heard our conversation earlier."

"She…_what_?"

"I'm really sorry. I always put calls on speaker in the car. I was about to tell you that Liz was listening when you started saying these things-"

"She heard that?"

His voice was now weak and she visualized an accompanied pale face.

"It was wrong of me to do that, I realize that now. But that's not why I'm calling you."

Not being able to get past the fact that she had heard him just yet, Max asked, "She heard me call her a brat?"

"I'm getting the feeling that you've said that to her face before anyway, so what's the big deal?"

"It's not the same," Max murmured.

"Max," Serena sighed. "I haven't known you for long, but I generally think I'm pretty good at reading people. The information I was getting from Liz and what you were saying about her makes me wonder if I was wrong."

"Ser, that's between Liz and I-"

"No, it's not," Serena said tightly. "How long have you known this girl, Max?"

"Uhm…most of my life."

"And why do I get the feeling that she is completely messed up?"

"She's not completely-"

"Don't defend her," Serena interrupted. "Her eyes are empty, Max. Have you noticed? If you're her friend you couldn't have missed it."

There was silence for a long time and Serena briefly wondered if he was going to hang up on her. His voice was quiet as he finally said, "It's complicated."

"Oh," Serena said, realization dawning on her. It was only 'complicated' when love was involved. And in their case it was very possible that that meant, "You slept with her."

He sighed. "For fuck's sake, Ser-"

"And you forgot to pick up the pieces. She's broken inside, Max."

"It's not that simple-"

"Stop excusing her behavior and just help her!"

"_I'm fucking trying to!_" Max erupted.

"No, you're not," Serena replied calmly. "You're not. Apparently you told her that you slept with me."

"Ser, I-"

"We can discuss how I don't appreciate false rumors to be spread about me later, but right now I'm worried about Liz. How is telling her lies helping her?"

"That's what we do."

"What?" Serena asked incredulously. What kind of messed up relationship was that?

"So yes. We slept together. Once."

"What happened?"

"She left. A couple of hours later, when I was asleep. I've tried talking to her about it, but she either avoids the subject completely or just pushes me away-"

"Why would she do that?"

Max's voice turned defensive again. "If I knew that, don't you think I would fucking try to do something about it?"

"I don't think you really know at all what you're doing, Max."

"Okay, I'm hanging up-"

"Calm down, Max. I'm trying to help you."

"Ser, you're accusing me of being an asshole."

"You said it, not me."

Anger simmered across the phone line as he stated, "_She_ left. _She_ avoided _me_. _I_ tried to talk to her. _She_ wouldn't. _She_ hooked up with some other guy just days after the whole thing."

"How long ago was this, Max?"

His reply was hauntingly quick. "Four years."

Serena's eyes widened in shock. "You slept with her four years ago and you haven't spoken about it yet?"

He sighed. "Are you listening to me at all? She. Won't. Speak. To. Me."

"Try harder."

"Fuck, Ser! You have no idea what the hell you're talking about. This is not your place. You've known Liz for less than a week and you already think you're an expert on her life?"

"I'm definitely not an expert on her life, Max. But I saw her face when you talked about her and it scared me."

He sighed and asked wearily. "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she's got feelings for you."

When he didn't say anything, she continued. "And you making stuff up about sleeping with, for instance, me, hurts her."

"If she's so damn hurt by it, why doesn't she just tell me that's how she feels?"

"You're the one that knows her the best, aren't you? So you tell me, Max."

Max inhaled deeply and Serena prepared herself for him screaming at her to go to hell and hanging up. But instead, his soft voice drifted across the connection, "I love her. I've loved her for a long time. And I've been trying to tell her that, but either she doesn't believe me or she doesn't love me back."

"You're telling her that you love her one second and then you turn around and tell her that you're sleeping with other girls the next, is that right?"

"You're twisting it-"

"But that's basically it, isn't it? If you remove all your excuses for whatever screwed up interactions you have with Liz, that's what it comes down to, doesn't it?"

"It's not like she's been available. She got herself a boyfriend soon thereafter."

"And how did that go?"

"That's private."

She sighed. "Max. I might not know her very well, but I think I know you. And from the second I met you, I knew you were unavailable. You put on this whole elaborate playboy façade but it's so obvious that underneath all of that your heart is already taken. Are you just gonna let her slip away without doing anything? Because she's slipping, Max. Fast. And I'm not just talking about relationship stuff. I think she's really depressed. She told me a lot of stuff just now, things I wouldn't tell someone I had just met. Either I'm really good at getting people to talk, or she just doesn't have anyone to talk to. And it's killing her. Stop confusing her, Max. Stop lying to her. You can't lie to someone you love."

Her monologue was met with silence and she hoped that it meant her words had been somewhat true.

"She's very difficult to get close to. If I get real with her, she will bite."

"You're a big boy, Max. I'm sure you can handle some bite wounds." She took a deep breath. "You're hurting, Max. You have to either let her go and move on, or you have to grab hold of her and shake her. Because she doesn't get it."

"I don't want to scare her away. If I confront her, she runs. And like you said, she doesn't have anyone to run to. I'm the only one she has."

Serena almost laughed at the irony of that statement. "And you lie to her."

His voice was sad as he answered, "It's complicated."

A wave of anger floated over Serena. She never knew Max could be this thick-headed. "For Christ's sake, Max! Stop excusing your behavior! It's very simple. Her feelings are nothing extraordinary. She might be able to hurt you with her words, but that's just her keeping you at a safe distance, because you hurt her. Do you get that? You can keep attacking each other or you can show her how to be honest and stick to it. Don't let her hurt you. I haven't seen you two together, but I have a feeling you're just feeding off each other's insults. It's not real. Whatever she's telling you is not real. Look behind her words, Max! She's telling you something else and you're too busy licking your bruised ego to tell."

"Why are you putting all this on me, Serena?"

She sighed. "Yes. Okay. She has a role to play in this as well. But I get a feeling that she is the most broken one here. And I get a feeling that she's more confused than you are. On top of that, from this conversation alone, I'm pretty sure that part of the problem is that you don't realize that you have a role in her behaving like that. I tried to give her a ride today and she acted like a scared kitten, completely paranoid about getting into the car with me. It was like she was looking for some underlying reason as to why I would even bother to give her a ride. You've known each other since you were like…what did you say? Most of her life? You've been part of building her personality."

"So now it's my fault?"

"That's not the point. You may play the blame game with her, but I don't do that. You have to be the better person here and show her what to do. And for Christ's sake, stop telling her things that are not true. How is she ever supposed to be able to trust you if she constantly has to analyze and question your every word?"

"Okay," he said softly.

Hoping that she had finally gotten through to him, she asked. "Will you talk to her?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

His thoughts sounded far away as he answered, "I have to go."

"Don't just tell her you love her, show her."

"Yeah, okay," Max answered, as if in a contemplative daze and disconnected the call.

Serena slowly placed her cell phone on the kitchen table and took a deep breath. Oh boy.

TBC...


	22. Out of the Mouths of Babes

**21. Out of the mouths of babes**

The apartment  
Saturday evening  
(2005) Max is 20, Liz is 19

"You taste so fucking good," he mumbled against her lips as the weight of his body pressed her further into the mattress.

She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him even closer. "Thanks, I guess."

He let go of her lips long enough to give her a crooked smile. "Are you home alone?"

The smile slowly slipped of her face, immediately knowing what he was really asking. In a strained voice, suddenly very aware of his body on top of hers, she said, "I think Mike's coming home any minute now."

"Damn," he mumbled and started to suckle the side of her jaw. "How about we go to my place?"

He didn't notice how her body tensed underneath him and how a shiver of fear raced through her. "Uhm, I promised Mike I would be home," she lied.

He looked up at her, pouting with his lips. "Come on. I'm sure you can come up with an excuse to get out of it."

She licked her lips and then pushed on him to get off her.

She could feel his eyes burning into her back as she stepped up to her desk and ran trembling hands down her face.

"Liz?"

She took a deep breath. She could do this. Nothing _had_ to necessarily happen just because she went home with him.

"Right," she said, her back still towards him. "I just… I'll just need to go and call him."

She turned around and produced a smile. "Okay?"

He smiled, "Yes," and beckoned with his arms for her to step up to him again.

She did so and kissed him as he pulled her face down to his.

Giving him another smile, she said, "I'll be right back."

He winked at her. "I'll be right here."

The smile was tearing her face and she nodded, "okay", before she was quickly out the door.

She closed the door to her bedroom behind her, quickly walked down the long hallway, past the telephone and opened the front door.

She closed the door as quietly as she could behind her before walking down the flight of the stairs leading up to their apartment.

She took a deep breath of the cool air as she opened the main door at the bottom of the stairs and stepped out.

Not really sure what to do with herself, she folded her arms tightly across her chest to fight of the chill of the wind and started walking down the street. She only made it a couple of feet before she saw a familiar car driving up towards the house.

"Shit," she mumbled and ducked into the alley separating their apartment complex from the next.

She heard their voices as they stepped out of the car, the sound of the closing of the car doors echoing in the night, and she tightened her arms around herself. God it was cold.

As she heard the main door to the apartment complex open, it suddenly hit her that Michael might walk in on Sean in her room. Now that wouldn't be good, especially since she wasn't there.

"Shit shit shit," she said. Now she had to go back in there. "Double shit."

"What's shit?" an amused voice asked and she was so taken by surprise that she screamed.

As she whipped around she came face to face with Max. On impulse, she smacked him on the arm. "God, Max. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

He cocked his head to the side. "I don't think that's even possible. You don't really fit the category for people susceptible to heart attacks."

She frowned. What was he talking about? "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" he asked, his warm eyes raking over her minimally clothed body making her feel naked.

"I decided to go for a walk," she replied.

"In the middle of the night without a jacket?" he questioned, not looking particularly convinced.

"So? I just needed to walk."

"You just needed to walk?" Max repeated dubiously just as he noticed the goosebumps on her bare arms. "You're freezing."

"I'm fine," Liz said, "I just need to acclimatize."

"Acclimatize my ass."

"Isn't Mike wondering where you are?"

"I said I forgot something in the car," Max said.

Liz raised her eyebrows. "Oh, lying now, are we?"

"Not like that was ever above you," Max said and shrugged out of his jacket. "Here, take it."

"No, Max," Liz protested and took a step back to avoid the arms that were offering the jacket. "I'm fine."

"You're not fine," Max said, getting irritated that she was being so stubborn. "If you're gonna go for _a walk_, as you called it, you need a jacket."

Liz sighed and ripped the jacket from his hands. "Okay then."

Max shook his head in amused amazement at her stubbornness and was just about to once again tell her to go inside, when a musical jingle broke through the air.

"Oh, that's mine," Liz said, pulling out the phone from her back pocket. "'Lo."

"Lizzie? Where the hell are you?"

The words might only have been intended for Liz's ear, but there was no way Max could miss Michael's loud angry voice on the other end. He raised an interested eyebrow which darkened her face and had her turning her back towards him.

"I'm out for a walk," she spoke into the phone.

"For a walk?! Are you aware that your boyfriend is in your room? _Naked_!"

Liz paled and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping that Max hadn't heard that but knowing with uncanny certainty that he most definitely had.

"Shit," she mumbled.

"So all I'm wondering," Michael said tensely, "is what the hell you are doing _outside_ when your boyfriend is inside, looking quite the opposite of someone that is preparing to join his girlfriend for a walk."

She could hear Max laugh softly behind her and spun around to glare at him. But he wasn't laughing when her eyes landed on his face and she lost track of what she had intended on doing when she saw the darkness in his eyes.

"Elizabeth?" Michael asked on the other end of the line.

"Put him on the phone," Liz said, her eyes locked with Max. There was no way that she was going to look away. She could feel the heat of embarrassment caress her face, but she was not going to give him the satisfaction of watching her crumbling in mortification.

Sean's voice carried the telltale traces of someone that knew he had done something stupid. "Hey babe."

"Hey," she answered softly, almost intimately and watched Max's jaw clench. "What happened?"

"Sorry," Sean said. "I heard sounds in the hallway and thought it was you…uhm… I just-"

Liz smiled, looking at Max as if she was addressing him, "That's okay, baby. I'll be right up."

"You're not mad?" Sean's surprise was evident across the line and Liz's grip on the phone tightened.

Yes, she was mad. But there was no reason to let Max know that. All she needed to do was to get Max to believe that everything was okay between Sean and her. As long as she was together with Sean, Max left her alone. That was something she had figured out fairly early in her and Sean's relationship.

There was no doubt that Max didn't exactly approve of her choice of boyfriend, but she had to give it to him. He didn't eat off another guy's plate. According to his principles, Liz was off the market right now.

At least that had been true until that night a couple of weeks ago when he had provoked her to no end and she had ended up hurting him quite badly physically.

"No, hun. I'll be right there."

Before he could say another word, she disconnected him.

"He stripped down and you left?" Max asked with a hint of sarcasm, his body very close to hers and his eyes trapping hers.

"It was just a misunderstanding," Liz said with a strained smile.

"What are you doing with him, Liz?" Max asked, and Liz had a feeling he wasn't asking for details.

"It's my choice who I'm with," she answered.

"Something's not right about him," Max said.

"You don't know him."

"I know enough."

"What? From the rumor mill at school?"

"I've seen the way he acts around you. He only wants one thing."

Feeling like he had slapped her in the face, her eyes hardened, "Like you?"

Anger flushed into his eyes, "No, not like me." He stepped in and tenderly took a strand of her hair between his fingers. "It wasn't just about sex, Lizzie."

"Really?"

She didn't believe him. She couldn't.

"You didn't even give me a chance."

"Oh," she said lightly. "Like you gave all of those girls you screwed a chance? How quickly did you dump them, Max? Did you tell them that you were only having fun and that they would be out of your head the second after you were done with them?"

Max looked at her, slightly worried. "You really believe that? _That's_ what you think of me?" He scrubbed his hands down his face in frustration. "Fuck, Lizzie. Do you know me at all?"

"Come on, Max," Liz said evenly. "We both know that you screw around. I was just one out of-"

He stepped closer to her, his intimidating presence cutting off the words coming out of her mouth. "No, you were not."

"It was just too bad that I was a virgin, huh?" she said, tears of hurt glimmering in her eyes.

"Since you brought it up. You should've told me."

"Seriously, Max?" Liz looked at him with disbelief. "I would only share something like that with my closest friend."

"I thought I was," he said tightly.

She rolled her eyes, feeling her heart beating hard in her chest. "Get over yourself."

"You told me so yourself."

"I did not."

"Yes, you did."

She straightened, looking at him with challenging eyes, "When?"

"When you were drunk?"

"When was I drunk?"

"Mike's room. Wine. About two years ago."

She laughed softly. "Are you serious? You base your information on something I said while I was drunk _two years ago_?"

He shrugged. "You know what they say; only children and drunks tell the truth."

Liz looked at him oddly. "Whatever. I wouldn't tell you anyway."

"You didn't have to tell me," Max said. "But you _lied_ on top of not telling me."

Liz felt her frustration spilling over. "You wouldn't leave me alone! You kept taunting me about what happens on prom nights and what is expected and blah blah blah."

"I didn't taunt you."

"You did whatever you always do, Max. Why are you so fucking mean?"

He looked surprised. "I'm not mean."

"Oh, you're not?"

"You play by the same rules, baby," Max said tensely. "I'm getting sick of being kneed in the groin."

"I've only done that once," Liz protested.

"And it fucking hurt."

"You deserved it."

Max opened his mouth to reply, when he heard footsteps behind him. He saw the shifting emotions flicker across Liz's face as she laid eyes on whoever was walking up to them. He turned around and came face to face with Liz's boyfriend.

"Hey," Sean said. "Why are you out here?"

"I just needed some fresh air," Liz replied.

"I thought you were going to call Michael. Then Michael comes along and finds me in your room, and you are gone."

Max narrowed his eyes at the guy. He didn't particularly like that guy's tone of voice.

Liz mustered up a smile. There was no question that Sean was irritated and after the initial embarrassment that had colored his voice over the phone, seeing her standing outside – with Max – had probably replaced that embarrassment with anger fairly quickly.

"Sweetie," she said, the word strange on her tongue and she could see it in Max's eyes. She never used the word 'sweetie'. "I'm sorry about that. I was just warm."

"Right," Sean said with doubt lacing the word. "Then what is he doing here?"

Sean glared angrily at Max, which had Max rolling his eyes. That guy should get over himself.

"He arrived with Michael and saw me out here. He offered his jacket."

Max nodded with a smirk. Ha, there you have it, Stalker Boy.

"It looked like you were having a conversation to me," Sean said. "And you were standing fucking close for a regular conversation."

Max's face darkened at Sean's harsh tone. "Hey, don't talk to her like that."

Liz looked at Max incredulously. _Max_ talked to her like that all the time.

Sean turned to face Max. "Don't you fucking tell me how to speak to _my_ girlfriend."

"Oh, okay," Liz said, stepping in between the boys. "Caveman time-out."

Sean took a step closer to Liz, which had her taking a step back, stepping into Max's body. He automatically placed his hands on her hips and she unconsciously relaxed.

"What are you doing with him, Lizzie?" Sean asked heatedly.

"Back off man," Max said coldly, pulling Liz closer to him.

"Sean," Liz said, feeling as if the situation was quickly spinning out of control. "Calm down. I've told you before. There's nothing going on between Max and I. We were just talking about something that happened last week. And we both got a bit upset. That's why."

Her body felt warm and safe where it was pressed up against Max's. But remaining in that position would just further emphasis Sean's misconceptions so she stepped out of Max's grip hoping that Sean hadn't seen Max holding onto her.

Sean took a couple of deep breaths and then ran his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry."

Liz took a shuddering breath in relief. "That's okay."

Sean's eyes were regretful as he looked at her. "I guess I'm just a bit- It was kinda freaky to see your brother in the doorway, looking at me like he wanted to kill me."

Max held back a laugh. Go Michael.

Liz smiled at her boyfriend and took his hand. "He can be a bit scary."

Max's eyes darkened as he watched Liz's fingers interlace with Sean's and felt the air turn somewhat intimate around them. Feeling completely out of place, he murmured. "Okay, I'm gonna go inside."

Liz nodded absent-mindedly and he walked off.

Although she hadn't been absent-minded. Even though she was looking at Sean, it was Max she was acutely aware of. In situations like this, he wore his heart on his sleeve and she could read him just by the currents of emotions rippling through the air around him.

When Sean pulled her into his body and fused their lips together she was thinking of Max's warm hands resting on her hips, protecting her. When Sean folded his arms around her waist in a hug and she rested her chin on his shoulder, her eyes traced Max's shape as he walked away in the night.

And her heart stroked an aching beat.

TBC...


	23. Things Will Never be the Same

Here's a timeline to help you organize the chapters some…

**1987 (Max is 2, Liz is 1) Pacifier Incident**

**1991 (Max is 6, Liz is 5) Pushed aside (1)**

**2000 (Max is 15) Caught on Tape (13)**

**2001 (Max is 16, Liz is 15) Seven Minutes with the Enemy (P)**

**2002 (Max is 17, Liz is 16) Ears, Wine and Virgins (5)**

**2003 (Max is 17, Liz is 16) Scaring Mr. Evans (8)**

**(Max is 17, Liz is 16) An Unexpected Visitor (17)**

**(Max is 18, Liz is 17) Strange Comfort (2)**

**(Max is 18, Liz is 17) Hello (from "Hello, Goodbye") (14)**

**(Max is 18, Liz is 17) Shocking Revelations (Prom night) (7)**

_Michael and Liz move into the apartment_

**2003 (****Max is 18, Liz is 17) ****The Other Woman (9)**

**2004 (****Max is 19, Liz is 18) ****The Ball is in Motion (18)**

**2004 (summer) ****Swimming with the Sharks (4)**

**2004 ****Goodbye (from "Hello, Goodbye") (14)**

**2004 (late) ****Stranded (10)**

**2004 ****Crossing the Line (16)**

**2005 (January) ****Dating the Stalker (19)**

**2005 (February) ****The Many Uses of Ice Cream (6)**

**2005 ****Out of the Mouths of Babes (21)**

**2006 (****Max is 21, Liz is 20) ****Things Will Never be the Same (22)**

**2007 (****Max is 22, Liz is 21) ****Betrayed (12)**

**Playing with Playboys (3)**

**2008 (****Max is 23, Liz is 22) ****Rich Damsel in Distress (1)**

**Dealing with Dogs (15)**

**My Rollercoaster (20)**

****

22. Things Will Never Be the Same

**Sean's bedroom  
Friday afternoon  
(2006) Max is 21, Liz is 20**

His lips traveled down the side of her neck and she moaned softly, her arms tightening across his shoulder blades to pull him closer.

"Eager tonight, are we?" his voice whispered against her ear and she quickly pushed back the nervousness those words instilled.

"Uhm..." she said, arching her neck in an attempt to put some distance between them so that she could breathe. Why did it suddenly feel so claustrophobic in here? "Maybe we should slow down."

She froze as his hand squeezed her breast but it was her sharp intake of air that had him looking at her. And he completely misread her body language. With a grin he asked playfully, "Why should we slow down?"

His hand left her breast only to travel up to her throat so that he could move downwards again, only this time underneath her top. His fingers itched underneath the strap of her bra on his way but before he could touch her uncovered breast, she rolled away from him.

He stared at her dumbfounded, silently waiting for an explanation as his breaths were moving wildly through his lungs.

She pushed herself up against the headboard, brushed trembling hands through her tousled hair and mustered up a smile for his benefit. "It's moving a bit too fast."

He stared at her for a second before jumping off the bed. His arms were moving in agitation as he started pacing the floor and Liz's heart beat increased. Because she knew what was coming and she really didn't feel up to that conversation – again.

Pushing his hands through his hair in frustration, he spun on his heels to face her with dark eyes. "Moving too fast? It's moving too fast?"

She chewed on her bottom lip as she self-consciously rearranged her top to cover herself up a bit more. "Yes. I'm not ready yet, Sean." Deciding to turn the tables, she bit out. "You said you would wait. That you wouldn't pressure me."

"Fuck, Liz," Sean grumbled. "Yes, I said that. But it's been almost a year. We've been together for a fucking year and you still won't let me touch you."

She looked at him incredulously. "I don't let you touch me? Of course I do!"

"Oh right," he said, hitting his hand against his forehead as if punishing himself for forgetting. "You _do_ let me kiss you and maybe occasionally touch parts of your body. But I want more, Liz! I'm your fucking boyfriend. And right now I don't feel like your boyfriend at all."

She swallowed. She knew that he had a right to feel that way, but she didn't like to be pressured. She didn't like that he made her feel dishonest and like a tease.

"Just because I won't let you sleep with me?"

"_Yes!_" he yelled and Liz flinched.

Noticing her flinch, Sean took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. Liz watched his fists clench in synchrony with his jaw, waiting for what would come next.

He opened his eyes and with a sigh he crawled onto the bed, coming to sit in front of her. "I love you, Liz."

She looked into his eyes, wanting to believe him but still hearing that ever constant voice at the back of her head droning on about how no one could really love a person like her.

When she didn't answer, he continued with his eyes softening. "And I want to have it all with you. I want to make love to you." He took a hold of her hand and dropped his eyes to watch their fingers interlace as he said slowly, "I know that for some reason you are not ready to take that step, but have you ever thought about how it makes me feel?"

"Sean…"

He met her eyes and continued when her voice trailed off due to lack of words. "It makes me feel like you don't love me back. It makes me feel like you are not attracted to me-"

"No," she interrupted, forcefully shaking her head. He sounded like her. He sounded like the thoughts in her head and it made her heart ache. "Don't ever think that. This is about me-"

He smiled at her ruefully. "That's an original excuse."

Feeling the edge of irritation at his choice of words, her voice was slightly harder as she said, "It's not an excuse. I'm just not ready."

He looked at her for a second before pulling his hand away. "Then… I'm sorry, Liz. I don't think I can wait any longer."

She felt her heart drop into her stomach and fear freeze the blood in her veins. "What are you saying?"

"I need all of you, Liz," Sean said. "And if you can't give me that now, I have to leave."

She stared at him with a mixture of shock and anger. "You're giving me an ultimatum?"

"Yes," he said quietly. "I guess I am."

She felt cold. So cold. Her voice was weak as she whispered, "You can't force me-"

"I understand that you're not ready, Liz. But I have to move on. I think it's time you go home, Liz."

He turned for the door to open it for her and even though the rational part of her mind was screaming at her to not give in her heart was trembling with fear.

"No!" she screamed which brought him to a stop with his hand on the doorknob and he looked at her curiously. "Don't leave." She swallowed back the fear so that it wouldn't make her voice unsteady. "Please don't leave."

Surrendering her body, she softly said, "Stay."

He looked at her for a long moment, trying to gauge her expression. "You want me to stay?"

His question was loaded with several sub-questions and she nodded slowly.

A smile started to spread across his face and his hand left the doorknob. Liz made herself smile back at him as he slowly crawled back onto the bed.

Brushing her hair from her face and kissing her softly, he murmured. "I'll take care of you. Don't worry."

It was her first time with someone else.

And it was the first time she had to fake an orgasm.

--

**Four hours later  
The Apartment**

She saw him in the shadows casted by the dim light over the main door. He was on the phone, but his eyes were fixed on her before she even noticed him.

She bent her head and increased her steps as she breezed past him. As her hand encircled the doorknob, his hand encircled her elbow.

She stopped and looked over at him, her eyes communicating irritation and confusion.

"I'll call you back, okay?" he spoke into the phone, his eyes trained on her face.

She looked away, her elbow already heating up in the chilly air from his gentle grip, and clenched the fist at the other side of her body while she tried to will herself to take deep breaths.

He flipped the lid closed on his phone and let go of her arm. "Hey. I need to talk to you about…"

His voice trailed off as he took a closer look at her partly shielded face. His fingers gently cupped her chin and he felt her tremble in his hand as he angled her face upwards so that he could see her more clearly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she mumbled, avoiding his eyes.

Ignoring her reply, he pressed on. "You look really pale. Is everything alright?"

She turned and met his eyes, sighing. "What do you want, Max?"

He searched her eyes, making her swallow tightly, and his fingers unconsciously brushed along her jaw line. "Do you feel sick?"

He was too close. His touch was too warm. The air sucked in around her and she shivered with the sudden need to breathe.

Pushing his hand away, she took a step to the side; putting some distance between them. "Is there a reason why I'm still out here in the cold? Did you want to talk to me about something?"

There was an imploring expression on his face, as if he didn't quite believe her behavior. Then he shrugged and smiled crookedly. "Nah. It can wait. You look a bit blue, Parker. You should go inside."

She raised her eyebrows in silent communication of 'what do you think I was trying to do when you stopped me?' and pulled the door open. As she walked up the stairwell to their apartment a metallic taste grazed her tongue. She frowned and absently touched her lip as she fumbled for the keys in her pocket with her free hand. Looking down at her hand there was blood. Her frown deepened and she shivered in the comfortable heat of the vestibule.

She had bit her lip so hard that she had drawn blood.

--

**30 minutes later**

"Just look at that," Michael commented. "Pure geniality."

Liz looked up from the page she was pretending to read and flicked her gaze across Michael and Max towards the TV screen where Neo Anderson was doing yet another of his acrobat techniques in _The Matrix_.

How many times had they watched that movie anyway?

"Would be a handy trick to know," Max mused, seemingly unaware that Liz was back to looking at him.

What had happened over at her boyfriend's place just a couple of hours ago had brought one incident in particular to the front of her mind and she found her eyes drawn to him more regularly than usual.

"Yeah, running off walls," Michael grinned, nodding.

Max looked over at Liz and she quickly dropped her eyes before he could catch her looking. Biting the end of her pen between her teeth, she donned a face of concentration as she stared down at the page, not having the slightest clue to what it said.

"Do you have an exam?"

Liz looked up at his voice. "Uhm…kinda."

"I don't know why she wastes her time on studying," Michael stated distractedly, his eyes glued to the TV-screen. "She knows it all any way."

Liz rolled her eyes. "I don't."

"Come on, Lizziebear, don't try to be modest," Michael said and Liz carefully avoided Max's eyes as she looked at her brother. "Forget about the books and come over here instead and watch the movie."

Liz looked across the floor from where she was curled up in the armchair to the large couch that Michael and Max were occupying in front of the TV.

She might've moved over there and taken the free seat next to Max, if she hadn't been wearing her feelings on the outside. Tonight she felt exposed. She felt as if Max were to take another look at her, a look like the one he had given her outside, he would see straight through her.

The thought of him somehow finding out what she had been up to a couple of hours earlier scared her. If someone asked her to explain why, she wouldn't have been able to, but for some irrational reason it felt as if she had not only cheated on herself but on Max as well.

"I need to read this," she said and accidently got caught in Max's eyes.

"Come on, Parker," he said with a grin that failed to completely rule out the concern in his voice. He _had_ noticed something different about her earlier and his thoughts were still filled with concern of what had been going on in her life lately to make her look so lost and pale just an hour ago.

"I still have a lot to go through," she mumbled and refocused on the heavy book draped across her lap.

"Oh, this is the best part!" Michael announced, causing Max's eyes to move from Liz's to the TV-screen.

Liz took a deep breath as his attention moved away from her and really attempted to read this time.

An hour later her head was aching and she was utterly bored. She looked over to where Michael was now moving towards the DVD-player to change into the second _Matrix_ movie.

They always did this. They had these weird marathon evenings when they watched either all three _Matrix_ movies, all three _Lord of the Ring_ movies or every single _Die Hard_ movie. Not to mention _Star Wars_.

Tonight was _Matrix_ night and with another deep breath, Liz rose from her seat and tried to look as casual as possible as she sat down next to Max, leaving a good three feet between them.

"Joining us?" Max asked.

She gave him a forced smile. "Sure."

"What about your exam?"

"It's no biggie."

Michael rose from his kneeled position and shrugged. "Yeah, she'll be fine."

Knowing that it would take another minute before the disc had started up and reached the main menu, his thoughts trailed to his full bladder. "You can start without me. I'll be right back."

Liz followed her brother's departure with worried eyes. Suddenly the three feet between her and Max felt like three inches.

But Max decided to pretend as if he wasn't aware of the ever present tension between them and leaned across the couch where Michael had been sitting to grab the remote control.

"What did you want to ask me before?" Liz said so softly she doubted he had heard her.

Without looking at her, he pressed 'Play' and said casually, "It was nothing."

"You stopped me outside in freezing temperatures and hung up on whoever you were talking to just to ask me about nothing?"

Shooting a glance over his shoulder, which had Liz looking at him suspiciously, Max moved a bit closer and whispered in a conspiratorial voice, "Mike's birthday's coming up."

At first she wasn't sure what he had said. She kept looking at his lips, feeling her throat drying out and her own lips going numb.

"Yeah, I know."

He grinned at her wiseass tone and licked his lips causing her to straighten up in a desperate attempt to put some space between them. He pretended like he hadn't noticed her not very subtle way of moving away from him and whispered, "Maria and I are planning to throw a surprise party."

"He hates surprises," she whispered back, the words scratching against her dry throat.

His eyes darkened and she became distracted by the beauty of his long eyelashes until he said, "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" with an amused glint in his eyes, "You're looking a bit flustered."

Side-stepping the odd feeling of déjà vu his words brought, she stiffened and scooted further away from him. As far as she could get before reaching the armrest. This only further amused him and he smiled at her. "What's the matter, Parker? You're getting the flu or something?"

"Michael will kill you if you throw him a surprise party," Liz said coldly, warning him to come any closer.

"Are you worried about your exam?" Max asked, his tone continuing to be in complete contrast to his words as his voice didn't reveal the slightest trace of concern only amusement.

He was playing with her.

"Don't you remember the surprise party we tried to throw him on his seventeenth birthday?" Liz asked. A palpable tremble moved through her as his hand suddenly draped across her bare foot which was the part of her closest to him at the moment.

"Your feet are cold."

"So I have bad blood circulation."

"You should wear socks."

"I don't like socks."

"You don't like socks? They keep you warm, you know."

"They make me claustrophobic."

He laughed, looking at her in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"I don't like the way they…uhm…" His palm fixed in position against the roof her foot and his fingers moved around the underside of her foot; enclosing it in warmth. "…squeeze my feet."

"You're gonna make yourself sick," Max said quietly.

"Because I don't wear socks?"

He cocked his head to the side, his thumb slowly stroking the top of her foot while his hand kept warming her foot up. "Maybe you already caught something."

"I'm not sick, Max."

"You should've seen yourself earlier," he said and the amusement had evaporated from his eyes. "Your face was devoid of any color. You looked ready to faint."

"I don't faint," she huffed, offended at how weak he was making her feel. "I've never fainted in my life."

His hand slowly moved up around her ankle and her breath hitched in her throat. Meeting his probing eyes, she struggled to keep her voice even as she whispered, "What are you doing?"

He smirked. "I'm heating you up."

"There are other ways," she said, referring to fabric.

"Nothing's as good as body heat," he said mischievously.

She opened her mouth to reply when they both heard Michael's approaching footsteps. Max gave her foot a final squeeze before they in silent communication pulled away from each other.

He left her trembling and she wrapped her arms around herself at the sudden chilliness.

"Oh, this is good," Michael said and sank down on the other side of Max on the couch, his eyes already fixed on the TV-screen.

She had a feeling that he was probably aware of her eyes, but she couldn't stop herself from watching Max's profile, her thoughts miles away.

She'd had sex with Sean today. With her boyfriend of one year. It had been nice, and it had been over very quickly. She couldn't help but compare it to the other single sexual experience she had ever had. She couldn't help but dwell on the fact that sitting next to Max right now made her heart rate race much faster than when she had been naked with Sean earlier.

It made her feel cold. It made her question all of the decisions that had led her to this point in her life. She loved Sean. She did. Just not anywhere close to how she felt about Max. But that alone was enough reason to keep her distance from Max because he had the power to hurt her so much more than Sean ever could.

Part of the reason why she hadn't been willing to take that final step with Sean was the fear that she would realize that no one could ever compare to what she had felt that night with Max. And her fears had been confirmed tonight. It scared her to know that she might never feel the way she had with Max ever again.

Would he take her back now if she asked?

She shivered as she thought back to the feel of his hand around her foot. The way he kept acting around her was blatantly screaming at her that he was interested in her. That he had a thing for her. But it was much safer to keep telling herself that he was just playing. That he was just doing all of that because he loved to push her buttons and see how she would react. Because that was what he had always done.

But there was still that small part of her that was hoping for something more and that small part of her was right now screaming in pain because she had pushed it brutally to the side when she had consummated her relationship with Sean.

She reached out with her hand and touched her fingertips against his hand. He jumped and looked over at her with an odd look in his eyes. Keeping her eyes locked with his, she placed her hand in his.

There were a million questions in his eyes and she shook her head in a silent plead for him to let them go unanswered.

His fingers tightened around her hand and she released a breath she hadn't known she had been holding.

"I'm sorry," she mouthed at him, guilt washing through her body.

He looked at her worriedly and his hand tightened around hers. Michael laughed about something in the movie next to them, but neither Max nor Liz noticed.

"For what?" Max mouthed back.

She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly, not having the words to explain. She started to withdraw her hand, but this resulted in him tightening his grip. His eyes begged her for an explanation and she bit her lower lip.

"Please, let me go," she whispered low enough for Michael not to hear and she could see in Max's eyes that he caught onto the multiple underlying meanings to her sentence.

And he let her go. For now. His fingers feathered across the back of her hand before he completely released his hold on her hand and with a trembling breath she rose from the couch.

From the other end of the couch, Michael had quietly been observing them out of the corner of his eye. His sister had been acting strange today and he had blamed it on stress about her upcoming exam - until she had started to look at Max oddly.

Michael had been very aware of how Liz's attention had not been on the movie at all tonight and there was something unexplainable charging the air around Liz tonight. The whole thing made him think of the days following their trip to the cabin in Wisconsin a couple of years ago. He had been certain that something had happened between his best friend and his sister in the hours he hadn't been present.

And even though Max had told him that he hadn't had sex with Liz, things had been different between two of the most important people in his life since that Christmas. He wanted to believe Max. He wanted to believe that Liz had been crying about something else. But it worried him and he couldn't completely let it go.

And it was at times like these that he again wondered what really had happened.

He watched Liz rise from the couch, her eyes lingering on Max, and frowned. Michael told himself that he needed to have another chat with his baby sister. Soon.

"Going to bed?" he asked Liz.

Liz tore her eyes away from Max and smiled at Michael. "Yeah."

She walked over and kissed Michael on the cheek before she said, "Good night."

Liz was only aware of Max's eyes on her back as she left the room and the tears burnt her eyes as she burrowed her feelings deep. She never suspected the thoughts running through her brother's head as he too watched her departure.

TBC...


	24. Winter Wonderland

Thank you everyone so much for the feedback!

Eliza, your review moved me. Thank you so much for those beautiful words.

I'm sorry that the timeline seemed to have rather confused than cleared up. If you still want the timeline, let me know and I'll post something. Since I can't post any links on this page putting up a timeline takes quite a long time (because it's originally saved in table form) so I won't spend time on putting it up if you don't feel like it's helping. Just let me know…

And I seem to be posting this story in chunks. Sorry about that. My hectic life distracts me and I forget to update on this page.

**23. Winter Wonderland**

Cabin in Wisconsin  
(2009) Max is 24, Liz is 23

It was a tickling sensation against her skin that pulled her from the realms of sleep. Still not ready to let go of the state of unconsciousness, she mumbled in protest and pulled the blanket further up her face.

But the action didn't abolish the annoying feathering across her face.

"Go away."

"Love, open your eyes."

The low dark timbre of his soft voice was almost enough to pry her eyes open. But she knew from experience that as soon as she opened her eyes, getting out of bed soon thereafter was anticipated and she didn't feel like leaving the warm comfort of the bed just yet.

Come to think of it; the main source of heat in the king sized bed was lacking. Why could she hear him, but not feel him curled around her body? Why was he up?

"I don't want to," she murmured and pulled the blanket tighter around her.

"I think you do." She could hear the smile in his voice. "I think you want to go outside."

She shivered under the blanket at the thought of the cold outside.

No, she really didn't want to go outside.

"Do I have to?" she almost whined.

It felt early. Why was he up so early? Why was he waking _her_ up so early?

She heard him move in front of her face and she peeked one eye open to see what was going on. He winked at her when he saw her open her eye and she quickly squeezed it shut. She didn't want to give him the idea that she was getting up or anything.

"Baby," he whispered, his husky voice caressing the whole surface of her naked body underneath the covers. "Come on…"

"Is it good?" she asked with eyes closed.

"It's good," he said, amusement coloring his voice.

"If you're lying…"

"I'm not-"

"There's no sex for a week for you."

"Oh, really?" he asked in mock curiosity. "Can _you_ survive that long without sex?"

Her eyes flew open and she glared at him. She tried really hard to hold her glare, but he looked very…appetizing with his hair standing in all directions and a slight shadow across the lower part of his face needing the attention of the razor.

But she didn't mind the stubble. No, not at all. The way it would brush against her skin, threading a fine line between pain and pleasure…

She shivered and he smiled at her broadly.

Her eyes narrowed again. "What are you smiling about?"

"You're thinking about sex, aren't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You, Mr. Most-Sought-After-Playboy-in-High-School, are the last person allowed to talk about abstaining from sex. How much self-restraint do _you_ have, huh?"

"Whatever are you talking about?" Max asked, feigning confusion.

"'Oh, Liz. Let's do it on the floor. Let's do it in the bathtub, on the couch, against the refrigerator, on the kitchen counter-'"

"Don't tell me you don't like it," he said smugly.

She held back a smile as she shook her head and sat up, intentionally letting the covers fall off her. She shivered as the cool air breathed across her skin, but it was worth seeing his eyes grow pitch black as his gaze roamed her naked body.

"How long can you abstain, Max?" she asked sweetly, innocently brushing her hand over her breast.

Transfixed, he followed the movement of her hand before pulling himself together and grabbing that same hand in his. A groan rumbled from the depths of his throat as the back of his hand came into contact with her soft skin.

"Get dressed," he more or less commanded.

If she didn't put some clothes on right this second, they were never getting out of the bedroom.

"Come back to bed," she said softly, taking a hold of the collar of his sweater and pulling him towards her.

"No," he objected firmly, being very careful to not put any hands on her, and she smiled. "You're getting out of bed. Now."

She sighed and changed position to place her bare feet on the floor. "Geez, this better be good, Evans."

She could feel his burning gaze caress her nude form as she crossed the floor. Goosebumps were spreading across the vast expanse of her skin, as a result of his attention rather than the cold bite to the air.

She retrieved one of his football sweaters from the floor and pulled it over her head. The sweater was big enough to cover her from shoulder to knee. She started to slowly wake up as she walked over to him.

He pulled her into the circle of his arms as she got within his reach and a contented sigh drifted across her lips as she put her arms around his waist and buried her face against the comforting solidity of his chest. She took a deep breath, breathing in all his familiarity and whispered, "Good morning."

He kissed the top of her head, his fingers slowly threading through her rumpled hair. "Morning, kitten."

"How early is it anyway?" she asked against the base of his throat, her lips tasting the area of exposed skin where the sweater ended.

"About seven," he answered.

Her feet were cold and her hands found their way underneath the bottom of his sweater to trail over the smooth hardness of the muscles of his back.

"Mmm," she murmured in protest, "Can we go back to bed now?"

"You might want to wear a little bit more than this."

She pulled away and looked at him seriously. "But I thought you liked me in as little clothing as possible."

He laughed softly at her as she tried to maintain her façade of ignorance and kissed the tip of her nose. "Yes. The world would be a better place if you walked around naked all the time. But I don't want you to catch a cold… So you need more clothes."

"We're going outside?" she enquired, burying her face in his sweater again. It was just so warm and cozy in his arms.

"Yes," he answered. "Come on, sweets. It's gonna be noon soon at this rate."

She sighed. "Yeah yeah. Where's the rush, Evans?"

She pulled back, but he took a hold of her hand before she could get out of his reach and pulled her up against him again.

"Max," she questioned. "Now you're the one slowing-"

He gently placed a finger underneath her chin and bent down to kiss her. How his kisses could still make her feel light-headed was beyond her and knowing her too well Max's arm went around her waist for support as her knees went weak.

He left her dazed, breathless and staring at him, longing for a completely different bed activity than sleeping.

"You talk too much," he said quietly while delivering a radiant smile and her heart skipped a beat.

"It's what I do best," she said.

He trailed his fingers over her cheek and slowly shook his head. "No. I can think of a thing or two that you do even better." His hand trailed up the outside of her bare thigh and her breath hitched in her throat in anticipation. His traveling hand pushed the bottom of the sweater northwards and she became acutely aware of the fact that she was completely naked under that single piece of clothing.

He kissed her gently again, his palm flushed against her hip bone, and mumbled against her lips. "Pants are good when going outside."

Her eyes drifted closed as his hand moved further north, brushing along the front of her abdomen and whispering beneath the swell of her breast, his fingertips tantalizingly brushing the soft and sensitive skin underneath her breasts.

He caught her breathless mouth with his and reveled in the taste of her while his thumb brushed across her nipple. Her moan drowned in his mouth and his kiss turned more passionate and stronger as he rolled her hard nipple between his thumb and index finger.

"I don't think-" she took a helpless breath, her lips lingering against his, "-this is helping very much with me getting-" she moaned and pressed closer to him as his hand completely enclosed her breast in an erotic fondle. "_dressed_."

"Yeah," he whispered, his voice out of breath, "you're probably right."

With another kiss, his hand left her breast and moved around to her shoulder blade. In slow caresses of his fingers, he moved down the planes of her back and returned his palm to her hip bone.

"Put some socks on as well," he said as his other hand kissed her throat and cheek.

"Yes, sir," she moaned, pressing if possible even closer up against him.

But with a quick kiss his hands left her body and he stepped away.

"Nooo," she whined softly. "Can't we just go back to bed instead?"

He looked at her, almost with admonishment but with a twinkle in his eyes, "Go and get dressed, Lizzie."

"Fine," she grumbled like a five-year-old and stomped over to her clothes.

--

He had her closing her eyes when they reached the bottom floor. With a hand around her waist, he led her to the front door. A shiver went through her as he opened the door and the icy wind of winter barreled into her.

Then her nose picked up on the particular smell of snow and she excitedly opened her eyes.

"Snow!" she exclaimed as her eyes confirmed what her nose already knew.

"Hey, did I tell you to open your eyes yet?" Max scolded lightly, watching her with a smile.

Liz loved snow. She had been utterly disappointed when they had reached Wisconsin and they hadn't gotten any snow yet. But the snow flakes, large and white, were slowly drifting down on the minimum wind in front of her eyes.

"Go outs-" his voice trailed off as she turned and grabbed her boots. Max watched her with swelling heart as, in her haste, she tried to put on her boots at the same time as her jacket, scarf, gloves and beanie.

He laughed and grabbed his own jacket, knowing from the look of it that they were going to be out the door in seconds. "No one's gonna take the snow from you, kitten. Slow down."

"When did it start?" she asked excitedly, hopping on one leg in attempt to get the boot on while the other hand was pulling the beanie down to almost cover her eyes. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

He almost rolled his eyes. "I was trying to."

"Doesn't really matter," she said, breathless with excitement and grabbed a hold of the end of his jacket.

He stumbled out in the falling snowflakes only to come to a stop as she let go of him and, with delighted screams, ran across the already snow-covered yard.

He loved seeing her this happy. It was like a drug, to which he was addicted.

"Come on!" she screamed at him as she laid down on her back on the lawn, her arms spread to her sides making her look like a cross.

He smirked and bent down to pick up some snow. Enough to make himself quite an impressive snowball.

While Liz was busy making snow angels Max casually walked up to her, the snowball hidden behind his back.

"Isn't this great?" she asked when she heard the snow creak underneath his boots as he came closer.

"Uh-huh," he answered and lowered himself to the ground by straddling her waist.

"Oh," she said amused. "Hello."

He smiled at her and leaned in. His breath tickled her nose as he whispered, "Hello."

The snow was momentarily forgotten as his lips gently pulled on her bottom lip, the sensation of his warm lips against her cold skin making it slightly more difficult to breathe. The tip of his tongue grazed the inside of her upper lip and desire rippled through her body, heating her in ways no thermal jacket ever could.

She moaned as she felt his fingers pull on the zipper of her blue jacket and arched her neck to taste more of his mouth.

She abruptly pulled away with a painful gasp as something cold attacked the skin below her collarbone. Her eyes flung open and darkened as soon as she saw the mischief in his eyes. She didn't waste a single second on pondering the similarity of the situation to others they'd encountered in the past before she screamed at him.

"Maaax!!"

"What?" he asked innocently, his hand still moving down her shirt, the coldness spreading along the trail of his hand.

"Get the fuck off me!" she screamed and struggled to fling him off.

He rolled to the side and looked up at her in feigned confusion as she stood. "What's wrong, Liz?"

Her attention was down her front as she pulled out the top of the sweater to gaze down and confirm what she had already suspected; melting snow running down the inside of her sweater.

"Oh you…"she said darkly and bent down to collect snow. "You really shouldn't have-"

"Done what?" he asked and threw a snowball at the top of her bent down head.

She looked up with snow falling off her beanie and Max tried utterly unsuccessfully not to laugh at her expression.

"Oh, you're dead," Liz said evenly, anger brewing beneath the surface.

Max gave her a mischievous smile and challenged, "Come on Parker. Show me what you got."

So she did. She ended up giving him a good run for his money, but it was still Max Evans that finished it by having the upper hand.

Pressing her up against the house wall, he threateningly held a snowball in front of her face, his eyes bearing no sign of threat at all. "Say it, Parker."

She met his eyes stubbornly. "Never."

"Parker…" Max warned.

Playing dumb, she looked at him curiously, "What was I supposed to say again? 'Max Evans is a stupid donkey'?"

He sighed impatiently. "Noo. Max Evans is a God."

"Yeah…" Liz said slowly as if thinking about it and then shook her head. "I made a promise to never lie to you again, so…"

"Ooh?" Max chuckled and then pushed the snowball into her face.

She screamed at him through the instantaneously melting snow on her warm face, but she remained trapped as he pushed her body even closer against the wall.

Before she had a chance to scream at him some more, he pressed his lips against hers, tasting the slightly metallic taste of snow on her lips.

She tried to stay mad at him. She really did.

But he was so warm and the things he was doing with his mouth…

His hands moved down her back to her ass and with a strong movement he pushed her lower body upwards, forcing her to wrap her legs around his middle.

"Max. Inside," she moaned into his mouth and already on his way, he fumbled with the door knob behind Liz's back before quickly moving them both into the house.

Max's feet left wet footprints across the wooden floor as he quickly crossed the floor and fell into the leather couch, pushing Liz's body into the cushions with the weight of his body.

"Liz…" he groaned as he tried to find the zipper to her jacket.

She moaned softly as his hands moved desperately across her body in attempt to remove her clothes. She grabbed his wrists, murmuring, "Wait…wait, Max," and quickly found the zipper to her jacket. She was unzipped and had crawled out of her jacket five seconds later. Max offered his assistance at the end, pulling on one arm of the jacket until it released her body and threw it over her head where it landed somewhere on the floor.

She was already pulling on his jacket, which he hadn't even bothered to zip up before. While rapid hands pushed the jacket down his shoulders, he pushed his hands beneath her sweater and she almost screamed as his ice cold hands molded around her breasts.

A strong tremble of desire rocked her body at the almost painful contrast between his hands and her warm body. She bit her bottom lip as her body let out a deep sigh.

With the jacket still hanging off his elbows, he pushed her sweater up, revealing her still summer-tanned stomach. His thumbs moved in circular movements across her nipples as he leaned in to start a long trail of languid wet kisses up her stomach.

"Evans…" she murmured. "Your stupid jacket…" she gasped as the tip of his tongue brushed the underside of her breast. "It's…" Her head fell backwards with a soft cry as his tongue swirled around her nipple. "God…"

"_Now_ you're admitting I'm God," his husky voice rippled across her aching breast.

"Your jacket is still on," she said breathlessly and looked down at the top of his dark head as she added, " _my lord_."

She inhaled sharply as he removed his mouth, letting the cool air brush against her wet breast, and looked up at him with narrowed eyes and amusement crinkling the corners of his mouth. "Are you making fun of me?"

She smiled at him sweetly. "Never."

"Okay," he said slowly. "I'm gonna let this go for now. But I promise you, Parker, you're-"

"Shut up," she murmured and grabbed a hold of his head and pulled him to her lips.

As their lips moved together heatedly, exhaustingly and passionately, their combined effort finally pushed his jacket off; his sweater following soon thereafter.

They separated briefly as he pushed her sweater over her head, his hands quickly moving to caress her bare skin.

Goosebumps spread across her skin, starting from the center of her body, as his naked chest flushed with hers, brushing ever so slightly back and forth as they moved their bodies against each other to lessen the heat building inside. But frankly, it was mostly fueling it.

When he moved to unzip her jeans the back of his hands brushed against her dark curls since she hadn't bothered to put on panties earlier and she gasped at the sudden sensation.

As her body arched into his hand their bodies, which were already teetering on the edge of the couch, lost their grip on the couch and fell to the floor with a loud thump.

Liz's face grimaced in pain as Max's full weight on top of her made the impact with the wooden floor even worse. "Ouch."

"Shit," Max murmured and Liz flushed with heat as his face instantly softened with concern. There was something incredibly sexy when he became that worried about her.

His hands cradled the back of her head, his fingers worriedly probing her scalp in the search of pain. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she took a deep breath which ended in a shaky laugh. "That kinda hurt."

He looked at her seriously, his fingers threading through her hair. "Do you want me to kiss the pain away?"

Her heart swelled and she whispered with a smile, "Yes, please."

And so he did.

Even in the heat that enveloped the couple, Max never once failed to be gentle in the passion, soft in the urgency and tender in the longing. Like all other innumerable times he had touched her body this intimately, he worshiped every inch of her and took her body to new heights.

Over and over again.

"I love you," she said softly as he cradled her close to his chest, the sound of their rapid and shallow breaths filling their surroundings. "I love you so much."

His arms tightened around her and his lips kissed her forehead. "And I adore you, kitten."

Even though she was getting more used to his confessions of love with each passing day, she still had troubles believing him at times. Her fears ran deep and she was still building herself up every day.

But she was getting better and it was getting easier. With Max's constant presence.

She smiled and her eyes drifted closed as her hands trailed imaginary lines across his warm chest.

And she finally started to believe.

--

**Two hours later**

"Why don't you invite him for Christmas?" Liz asked, watching their fingers interlace, come apart, interlace, in the slowest and most sensual of movements.

"I'm not sure he feels up to it," Max said quietly and turned onto his side to look at her profile. "Christmas is… It's a tough time for him."

The burning wood crackled in the background and he pulled their entwined hands to his chest, capturing their hands between their bodies as he leaned over her, putting his powerful thigh between her soft ones.

"And what about you?" Liz asked softly as his free hand somberly played with a strand of her hair.

He shrugged, appearing unaffected, and distractedly pushed the hair away from her face, even though it wasn't really needed. "I'm fine."

She bit her lower lip with sad eyes. "I miss her."

His eyes found hers and a weak bittersweet smile touched his lips. "Me too."

He had a lot of good memories with his mother and he held onto them tightly. So tightly that most of the time he didn't allow himself to think about the fact that she was gone. He didn't want to remember the time between the diagnosis and her death, when he had held onto every little string of hope he could while at the same time knowing that her prognosis was very bad. At least that was the terms the doctors had used.

"She was so…warm," Liz whispered, her thoughts on Diane's bouncy nature.

Every time Liz had met her, Diane had been happy, with a big smile on her face. Liz could see a similar smile on Max's face at times, more frequently in the last couple of months than before.

Max pulled their hands apart and pulled their naked fronts together as his hand curled around her back. His lips pressed against her skin as he buried his face in the crook of her neck. "She was."

Liz tried to abolish the waves of desire flushing through her system at his proximity and slowly combed her fingers through his dark hair. "Are you okay?"

"It's just…" he looked up at her, pensively brushing his finger over her full lips. "It's difficult to talk about."

"He should come," she said quietly. "I think he would love to see you."

"Kitten," he mumbled against her skin. "Could we not talk about this now?"

"Don't try to avoid the subject, Evans," she said and felt him smile into her neck.

"I'm not," he protested.

"I just don't like the idea of him sitting all alone on Christmas."

"He's done it every Christmas since he left."

"Max," Liz said seriously and shifted from underneath him.

He looked up at her as she pulled herself into a sitting position, the blanket falling down and revealing her breasts. Fascinated, and quickly forgetting their conversation topic, he watched the flickering light from the fire in the adjacent fireplace dance across her skin.

"Are you gonna refuse me sex again?" he asked, forcing himself to look away from her breasts.

Taking note of his distracted behavior, Liz rolled her eyes and looked at him sternly. "This is serious, Max."

"_Seriously_, Liz," Max said, "I can't have a proper conversation with you looking like that."

She frowned. "What? What's wrong with the way I look?"

"All naked, tempting…and gorgeous," Max whispered huskily and a relaxed smile spread across her face.

She pulled on the blanket and brought it up to her chin, covering everything except her head from his view. "That better?"

He groaned in frustration and turned onto his back with a frustrated sigh. "No."

"I don't want to force you to invite him, you know that right?"

He looked over at her and his features softened. "Yeah, I know."

"I just think it would be good for both of you."

"Yeah."

She pursed her lips in thought. "So…? Does that mean that we're inviting him?"

"On one condition," Max said.

She looked at him warily. "What's that?"

"You remove that stupid blanket and let me make love to you all day long."

She couldn't help but smile brightly at him. "Deal."

TBC...


	25. In Sickness and in Health

**24. In Sickness and In Health**

The Apartment  
Tuesday afternoon  
(2006) Max is 21, Liz is 20

"Parker," his knuckles rapped against the wooden door before he opened it, not waiting for her reply, "Do you have…?" His eyes landed on her tear-stained face and he froze. "What's wrong?"

"Go away, Max," she sobbed, her fingers rapidly thumbing through the pages of a brick-sized book.

Contrary to her request, he stepped further into the room, took in her position on the floor next to the bed, the papers strewn all around her and her desperate movements. "What's going on?"

"Just leave," she repeated and then threw one of the books into the wall with a frustrated cry. Without him having to ask her again, she volunteered the information, "That idiot changed the deadline for my essay. I won't have time to write it now." She sneezed and reached for a box of tissues, and Max realized that she was curled up in a thick blanket. "Why is he so intent on screwing up my life? I had it all planned and now he completely fucked over my schedule."

"Are you feeling alright?"

She looked up at him with a flustered face and dark angry eyes. "No Max. I'm not feeling alright. I'm gonna fail that unit now because of that asshole. The assignment is worth 60 of my final grade."

"You can complain," Max said and kneeled next to her.

"Oh, I've complained," she said tightly and almost ripped a page out of the library book when she turned the page hastily.

He placed his hand across her hands to stop her. "Hey hey. Calm down." He frowned at the heat of her hands. Her hands were usually fairly cold. But not today. "Liz…"

She ripped her hands away from his and turned to pull another book over to where she was sitting when his hand on her forehead halted her actions. Annoyed with him, she pushed his hands away.

"Max! Get off!"

"Liz," he said carefully. "You're burning up. You have a fever."

"I'm cold," she said stubbornly and pulled the blanket closer around her, as if she couldn't be burning up because she was actually freezing.

"Sweetie, you're sick," Max said.

"No, I'm not!" she exclaimed and pulled herself to her feet, paper and books tumbling to the floor around her. "I don't have time to be sick."

He slowly rose and watched her as she tightened the blanket around her and stepped up to her laptop. Leaning over the desk, she typed something into the journal search.

"Kitten, you need to rest," Max said slowly.

New tears started to flow down her fever-flushed face and she said weakly, "I don't have time to rest. Didn't you hear what I said? It's worth 60 of my final grade."

"I'll write it," he said.

She looked at him with utter disdain. "Yeah, right."

He shrugged. "I bet I can write it just as well as you can in your current state."

"I'm. Not. Sick," she said slowly, clenching her teeth together.

Her body decided that it'd had enough at that point and she swayed. Max's heart skipped a beat and he took a step closer to her, his arms stretched out in front of him to stop her from hitting the floor if she fell. "Liz…"

She squeezed her eyes tightly shut and grabbed onto the edge of the desk. Everything was spinning.

"Don't 'Liz' me," she muttered, feeling nauseous.

Swallowing, she turned to face him. "I'm fine, Max. So if you could just get the hell out of my room I could-" She swayed again and a weird feeling went through Max as her small voice said, "Max…"

Next her eyes rolled back in her head and she would've hit the ground if Max hadn't caught her.

"Dammit," he murmured as he scooped her feverish body into his arms. She was too warm. His heart was beating erratically in his chest as he looked down into her unconscious face.

She was so small, so light, in his arms that his mind started fussing about that he had to remember to tell her to eat more. She felt impossibly fragile.

He gently laid her down on her bed and as the coolness of the sheets touched her back she came to.

Her lashes momentarily fluttered before she open her eyes and found herself staring into Max's worried swirls of gold. "How are you feeling?"

"What are you doing?" she asked and in the midst of all the worry he felt the urge to smile at her because of the ever present irritation in her voice. She tried to pull herself up but was pushed back down by Max. Her eyes turned darker and her face flushed a more angry red. "What the hell? I need to get up."

"You're sick," Max replied and pulled the sheet over her.

She tried to pull her arms away before he locked her in with the sheet, but it was too late. "Evans."

"You're not going anywhere," he calmly told her fiery eyes.

Tears of frustration spilled over the rim of her eyes and Max mentally steeled himself. He hated when she cried. "But I need to finish."

"You just fainted."

"I don't faint."

He arched a daring eyebrow. "Oh yeah? How did you end up in your bed?"

"You knocked me out," she said acidly.

"Believe me, I'm starting to wish I had," he muttered and his hands pushed on her shoulders when she once again tried to get back up.

"Fuck you," she cried out and then started coughing.

"Yeah, you're staying in bed," Max announced and with one hand on her body to ensure that she stayed there, he reached for the tissue box on the floor.

"I don't feel too good," she murmured after the coughs left her alone and she took the offered tissue from him.

"You don't look too good."

"I can write in bed," Liz said and then shut her eyes as the room started spinning again.

"Liz?"

"Stay still," she whispered, her eyes squeezed closed. "It's moving too much."

Her eyes flew open when she felt his weight leave the bed. "Where are you going?"

He looked down into her fearful eyes, trying to calm the overprotective feelings seeing her so weak was bringing forward in him. "I'm getting you some water. And I need to call Michael."

She shook her head, looking lost and vulnerable, and Max swallowed. "Don't leave."

He smiled at her softly and then leaned down over her. She looked up into his eyes, her chest heaving with strained breaths, while she waited for his next move. She shuddered as his soft lips placed a feathery kiss on her forehead. "I'll be right back."

His fingers whispered down her cheek before he pulled away and was out the door.

She must've passed out because when she opened her eyes he was back, pressing something cold and wet to her forehead.

She tried to sit up again.

"Shh," he whispered. "Don't move."

"Max?"

"Yes, kitten?"

"Were you serious? When you said you would write that essay for me?"

He smiled warmly at her and replied gently, "Of course. Don't think about it. Concentrate on yourself right now."

--

**Two hours later**

"I'm gonna call Martin," Michael announced and left the room. Martin was a medical student and Michael was worried that they weren't doing all they needed to do for his sister.

"I'm cold," Liz said, her teeth clattering.

"I know, baby," Max whispered and searched the room for another blanket even though he knew that they had used them all.

Seeing no other choice, he kicked his shoes off and crawled up next to her.

"No," she protested weakly when his warm body spooned around hers. "I'm gonna infect you."

"Infect me all you want," Max said, burrowing his face into her hair. "I don't care."

"Why are you taking care of me?" she asked, her hands tightening around his wrist across her waist and pulling it tighter against her. "Why are you still here?"

"Because I care, Parker," Max answered.

With those words scorching her ears, she drifted off to sleep.

--

**One hour later**

"Max."

Max looked up from Liz's shoulder at the owner of the toneless voice. Liz's boyfriend Sean.

With a glance at Liz to make sure she was still asleep, he withdrew his arms from around her, trying to ignore how she tightened her grip on him in her sleep and how unintelligible words mumbled across her lips in protest.

He moved to the edge of the bed and looked up at him. "Sean."

The boyfriend's face was tight and dark, and Max had a feeling it was very much due to him finding his girlfriend in the arms of someone else. But that didn't mean Max needed to explain anything to him.

"How is she doing?" Sean asked tensely.

Max rose from the bed, taking a small amount of pleasure out of stretching his legs. "She's pretty sick."

Sean nodded silently, his attention on his girlfriend.

"Go," Max hitched his head in Liz's direction and lied, "She's been asking for you."

There was no reason to make this any harder on Liz and he suspected that Sean might be questioning Liz about Max's involvement later anyway.

Sean nodded again and sat down on the edge of the bed. Taking Liz's hand, he asked gently, "Liz? Are you awake?"

"Max?" she whispered through parched lips and Max's heart clenched as he watched on from the background.

Max heard the hardness in Sean's voice as he corrected her, "No, Liz, baby. It's me. Sean."

She smiled weakly and whispered, "Sean?"

"Yeah," he said and Max left the room to give them some privacy.

--

**30 minutes later**

"She won't stop asking for you."

Max looked up from his magazine at Sean's voice and frowned. "What?"

Sean was standing awkwardly in the middle of the living room, his body emitting frustration and anger. "I think she's delusional. I can't talk to her." He bit his lips tightly together. "And she keeps asking for you."

"Have you tried cooling her down? The wet compresses?" Max tried.

He would rather go in there right now and be with Liz, but she wasn't his. And judging from Sean's body language, Max might quite possibly only make it worse by walking in there.

"It doesn't help," Sean said. "What did Michael's friend say?"

"We're doing everything we should be doing," Max said. "And if it gets worse, we should take her to the doctor."

"Maybe we should," Sean said and Max nodded slowly.

But Max knew something Sean didn't. Liz absolutely hated hospitals. And if Max could postpone bringing her there for as long as possible he would, to avoid adding to her stress levels.

"Where _is_ Michael anyway?" Sean asked, scanning the living room.

"He went to get chicken," Max said and smiled inwardly at his friend. "Apparently, Mike's solution to all sickness is chicken soup."

"Right," Sean said with a forced smile.

"Maax!"

Her call chilled the blood in his veins and he was on his feet before he even thought about it. Then he stopped himself. "Sean, she just needs something familiar and I've known her for-"

"Just go in there, Evans," Sean said, but even with his permission Max had a feeling that Sean was boiling on the inside.

But Max felt no need to argue with Sean further and rushed down the hallway to Liz's bedroom.

The hair around her forehead and temples was plastered to her skin with cold sweat and her cheeks were red with fever.

He kneeled next to her and brought over the bowl of water with the compresses. Picking up the one that was floating around in the water, he squeezed out the excess water and gently placed it across her forehead.

"Max?"

"I'm here," he whispered and dipped his index finger in her glass of water. He brought it to her dry lips and slowly ran it across the parched tissue.

Her tongue touched the tip of his finger and he inhaled sharply. With a shaky voice, he asked, "You're thirsty?"

"Max?"

"I'm right here," he repeated and brought the glass over to her lips. But she just shook her head, not wanting water.

"I didn't want to leave," she whispered.

He wetted his finger again and brought it to her upper lip. "What do you mean, kitten?"

"You taste so good," she said quietly, moving her bottom lip against his finger and his heart rate picked up.

"You want some more water?" he asked again, wondering how much of what he was saying was really getting through to her.

"It hurt so much."

"Where?" he asked. "Where does it hurt?"

She shook her head, her eyes closed. "No… Not now. Before. I had to leave."

"Love," he said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

He removed the compress from her forehead to re-soak it in the cold water.

"I loved you so much," she whispered, sudden tears flowing down her cheeks.

"Lizzie, I don't understand."

"Come closer," she whispered, her eyes opening to find his.

He frowned and moved closer, close enough for her to thread frail hands through his hair and pull him within an inch of her face.

"Kitten, what-?"

But her lips cut him off. The kiss was quick but enough to send blazing heat down his spine that spread throughout every cell of his body.

She pulled away and looked at him, straight through his heart. "It's just too complicated."

She somehow found his hand, but he was too caught up in her eyes to notice before she pressed his hand against her left shirt-covered breast.

He swallowed harshly and desperately tried to decipher the expression in her eyes.

"It hurts in here," she whispered.

"You're not thinking straight," he said quietly, his hand feeling tense against the swell of her breast with him trying not to move a muscle.

"I still want you," she said squeezing his hand which indirectly had him squeezing her supple flesh.

A shudder raced through him and he tried to pull away. "Then why are you with Sean?"

She smiled at him sadly. "Because he can't hurt me."

"I won't hurt you."

She answered calmly, as if it was something he couldn't know but that she knew with absolute certainty. "Yes, you will."

"If you want me, take me," he said and growing possessive he added, "Dump Sean."

"I can't. He's safe."

Max shook his head, her breast so warm against his hand that it felt as if they were skin to skin, "I don't understand you."

She smiled at him wistfully. "No one does."

The knock on the door had Max rapidly pull his hand away from her and he straightened up. "Yeah?"

Michael stepped in, looking every bit of a worried big brother. "How's she doing?"

"Still has a fever," Max replied and flicked his eyes over Liz's that kept observing him closely.

"I've got the chicken," Michael announced. "I'm gonna make soup."

"Okay," Max nodded and spotted Sean behind Michael.

Biting back his feelings, Max addressed Sean, "Do you want to sit with her for a while?"

Relieved to be needed again, Sean nodded, "Sure."

Max needed to get out of there and get his feelings under control. "I'll help you out, Mike."

--

**Two hours later**

"I just asked you a question, Liz," Sean said tightly.

Liz rubbed her forehead. The fever was gone but she still felt like crap. That didn't stop Sean from deciding to ask her a million questions about Max.

Apparently she had been calling for Max a lot when the fever had wrecked havoc to her body. Something that hadn't been appreciated by Sean.

"Could we please not do this right now?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I don't see how he looks at you?"

She gave him an irritated look. "How exactly _does he_ look at me, Sean?"

"Don't pull that crap on me. You know."

She sighed audibly. "No, I don't know. Why don't you explain it to me?"

"Like, when I walked in here today – worried sick about you – he was in bed with you and you looked very cozy."

"I was cold," Liz said, remembering that incident because her fever hadn't taken such a strong hold of her yet at that point. "He was trying to warm me up."

"Did you ever have a thing with him?"

She looked away and busied herself with grabbing her glass of water. "Just stop, Sean."

"You're too close for just friends."

"Just because he tried to help me out?" she asked and took a deep swallow of her water, trying to ignore her shaking hands.

"You fucked him, didn't you? Because you were certainly not a virgin when I got you."

Her body tightened in humiliation and anger at his words. "How dare you?"

"Was he your first?"

"That's really none of your business."

"He _was_, wasn't he? Fuck, Liz. What the hell are you doing?"

"Who am I with, huh? 'Cause it's not Max. I chose you, okay? I chose you."

"Then why did you keep saying his name before and not mine?"

"I don't know!" she yelled which pushed her into a coughing fit.

Her loud voice attracted Max's attention and he pushed the door open. "Is everything okay?"

Sean turned to him with dangerous fire in his eyes. "Get the fuck out, Evans."

"Don't talk to him like that!" Liz exploded.

Sean looked at her like she had just grown a second head. "And now you're defending him?"

"Take it down a notch, okay Sean," Max said.

Sean spun around with a warning finger pointed at Max. "You shut up."

"Not when you're speaking to her like that," Max replied.

"Max, please leave," Liz begged.

"She's sick," Max said. "Leave her alone."

"Fine," Sean said. "Since you want to stay, I have a question for you."

"Please leave, Max," Liz repeated afraid of where Sean might take this.

"Did you fuck my girlfriend?"

Max took one long look at Sean before he rammed his fist into Sean's chin. Sean staggered backwards among upset screams from Liz.

She stumbled out of the bed and Max, not really comprehending what he had just done, automatically reached out to steady her.

She pushed his hands away and looked at him with large disappointing eyes that made him take a step back. "Go away, Max."

She went up to her boyfriend and put her fingers against his already reddening chin. "Are you okay?"

"Stay away from my girlfriend, Evans," Sean threatened over Liz's head.

Max bit back his words to shield Liz from any more pain and left the room.

"This isn't over, Liz," Sean said quietly as her fingers probed his chin.

"Yes," she objected. "This _is_ over, Sean. There's nothing going on between Max and me. Now drop it."

He pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head. "I don't think I can do that."

"Either you let it go or I'm out," she said, throwing an ultimatum his way just like he had done only two weeks earlier.

He looked down into her serious face, fought with his feelings for an extended moment before grumpily nodding. "Fine. I won't mention it again."

TBC...


	26. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

**25. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust**

The Evans' Residence (italics representing the funeral)  
(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17

Max walked through the dark house; his mind empty, his eyes sore from days of crying, and his nails digging painfully into his palms.

_"If you were lucky to have Diane in your life, in some way or the other, you will never forget her. She was a constant light, shining brightly and strongly."_

Max's lips were pressed tightly together as he fought the tears. He would be strong for his mom. He wouldn't cry. He was determined to think of her life instead of her death and be happy for how much she meant to him.

But standing there, looking at the wooden coffin that held the dead body of his mother, the urge to cry was strong as pain slowly tore his heart apart.

"And she will always remain in our hearts."

He inhaled sharply as he felt her cool hand take his. He looked to his side, into Liz's worried face and tried to smile at her. Her presence was a relief at the same time as torture, because his plan to stay collected was quickly crumbling when she squeezed his hand. 

His knuckles rapped against the door and at the lack of a reply he tried to open the door. Only to find it locked.

"Dad?" he called through the door. "You okay?"

_Trying to distract himself, Max's eyes scanned the people that had come to his mother's funeral, his gaze ending on his father. His father who had barely spoken a word to him since she had died. His dad's wet cheeks were glistening in the sun and Max took a shuddering breath at the emptiness in the once so joyful eyes._

"Dad?" he tried again, the silence biting into the numbness of his heart. "Dinner's ready. You should eat something."

_As the guests began to walk towards their cars, a hand clamped down on his shoulder. "Hey man, how're you holding up?"_

Without looking at Michael, still painfully aware of the dryness of the residues of soil in his hand from dropping soil onto the coffin just minutes ago, Max tried his voice, "Not that great."

"Yeah," Michael said slowly, feeling a bit outside of his comfort zone. "If you…you know…need to talk or grab a beer or something. Watch a movie, whatever, I'm…I'm there, okay?"

Max gave him a weak smile of gratitude. "Thanks Mike."

"You should come over tomorrow," Liz said behind them and they both turned to look at the petite girl that meant so much to both of them.

Her voice was somber and careful, something outside of the normal range of her voice.

Max swallowed thickly. "Thanks. I might."

She nodded with a tentative smile and turned to Michael. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Michael said and refocused on Max. "See you back at the house."

"Yeah," Max said quietly and looked away, unable to breathe under the weight of their concern and pity.

His eyes once again fell upon his father who was talking to Anne, Diane's sister. He was so focused on his father that her arms on his shoulders startled him.

He looked down into her chocolate brown eyes with weary surprise and was even more surprised when she rose on the tips of her toes to softly kiss his cheek. As her hands slowly slid down his front from their original position on his shoulders, her fingers softly grazed the skin of his neck.

"I'm so sorry, Max," she said quietly, gave him another worried glance and then she was gone.

He placed his fingers against his cheek where her lips have left a burning mark and started to cry.

"Dad?" he asked the silence and fought against the need to scream. Tightening his fists even more he fought the urge to bang on the door, scream at his dad, everyone, the world. Taking a deep breath he swallowed the sudden anger and spoke tonelessly to the door, "I'll put it in the refrigerator and you can heat it up later, okay? Whenever you want."

His father never left his office that night. Or the night after that. On the third day following his wife's funeral, Philip Evans grabbed a sandwich from the kitchen at 3 a.m. in the morning. Max didn't see his father for a week with Philip leaving his office mostly at hours Max wasn't present. Until Philip one day appeared in the living room.

He was watching videotapes – home videos – when Max walked through the front door and threw his school bag on the floor. He froze at the sounds in the normally so eerily quiet house and without removing his jacket he slowly followed the sound into the living room.

Max's throat closed up as he heard the infectious pearl laughter of his late mother fill the house. Feeling paralyzed, Max stared at the images flickering across the TV-screen of himself and his mom when he had been five. She had been trying to teach him to ride a bike.

Looking over at the couch, he saw his father and he almost jumped at the transformation. The skin of Philip's face was a sickly grey color and it seemed stretched too tightly over his face making everything in his face look hollow.

He was crying, but without seeming aware of it as tears ran unnoticed down his cheeks.

"Dad?" Max whispered.

But his father didn't acknowledge him. Didn't even look in his direction.

"Dad?" Max tried again, but his father merely kept staring at the TV-screen.

Feeling anger bubbling to the surface, Max said tightly, "Could you at least answer me?"

But Philip didn't.

Max angrily brushed a tear off his cheek and bit out, "I lost her too, okay? She was my mother! I can't lose you as well!"

Philip blinked, a hint of emotion entering his empty eyes, but he still refused to acknowledge his son's desperate pleads for his attention.

"Fine," Max mumbled and rubbed his eyes free of tears. "You know what? Fuck you, dad. Fuck you!"

And he left, not seeing how Philip crumbled at the sound of the front door slamming to announce his son's departure.

--

**Fifteen minutes later  
Outside the Parkers' Residence**

His knocks were getting more frantic with every unresponsive second passing. He had been there for five minutes and no one was answering the door which logically told him that they weren't home. Not even Gabriella appeared to be home.

He stopped, because his knuckles started to throb in pain, and reached into his pocket for his cell phone. Clicking through his contact list he quickly found Michael's number and pressed 'dial'.

"Hi. I'm probably home; I'm just avoiding someone I don't like. Leave me a message, and if I don't call back, it's you."

Max sighed and hit the disconnect button before the answering machine could beep at him. Without a second thought, he rolled through the contact list again. This time in search of Liz's number.

"Hey guess who this is? You guessed it. Guess what you have to do now? You guessed it. Guess what's next? You guessed it..."

The beep echoed in his ear as he slowly closed his eyes, repressing the acidic feeling of abandonment. As he went about putting the phone into his pocket, he felt a piece of paper brush against the back of his hand. Curiously, he pulled out the paper and stared at it for a while in attempt to trigger his memory of its origin.

The note said, in a handwriting that was not his;

_If you need to forget…_

Followed by a phone number and a heart.

Her face flashed in front of his mental eye and he remembered the girl that had walked up to him on his first day back to school after the death of his mother. He had seen her in class; she was a difficult girl to miss with her strawberry blonde hair and feminine curves in all the right places.

And at right that second, it felt really tempting to forget.

He quickly dialled the number and waited for the response.

"Katie speaking," a soft voice answered.

"Hey Katie," Max said, hesitating for a second before continuing. "This is Max Evans."

He could hear the surprise in her voice as she said, "Oh…hey."

"Sorry, if this is not a good time-"

"No, no," she said quickly, getting over the surprise of having one of the most eligible single guys at school calling her. When she had given him her phone number the other day, she had hoped but never actually believed that he would actually contact her. "It's fine. What's up, Max?"

"I… I need to forget," Max said, feeling ridiculous as the words left his mouth.

But Katie didn't seem to notice. "Okay… My parents are not home. You can come over whenever you want." She gave him her address and the directions and he disconnected the call, feeling better already now that he had a purpose.

--

**Katie's Bedroom**

She was easy to talk to and one thing quickly led to another. Her body was soft and warm as he thrust into her with desperate need. A need to feel something. Anything.

He didn't realise he was crying until she brushed the tears off his cheek. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he whispered and kissed her.

He was okay. He felt much better now.

TBC...


	27. Oh Brother

**26. Oh Brother**

Outside Michael and Liz's Apartment  
(2008) Michael is 24, Max is 23

Serena's words were ringing in his head as he ran up the stairs to their apartment. But the door was ripped open before he had a chance to knock, revealing a stony version of his best friend.

"Hey Mike," Max said, trying to ignore the ominous feelings making the hair at the back of his neck stand on end. "Is Liz ho-"

That's all he got out before Michael's hard fist impacted his chin, sending him backwards against the railing. He grabbed a hold of the metal to stop himself from tumbling down the stairs while he stared in complete shock at Michael.

"What the-?"

"No," Michael said coldly, staring at him darkly. "You don't get to ask the questions, asshole."

Max was afraid to move even an inch at the venom in Michael's voice. Max could probably take Michael and win on any other day, but he wouldn't even attempt to consider it today.

"Michael, what-?"

"Shut the fuck up!" Michael erupted and Max's breath caught in his throat. He had never seen Michael this angry.

It hit him like lightning on a clear day. "Did Liz...?"

"Yes," Michael said and laughed shortly which had ice cold shivers run down Max's spine. "She told me. She told me exactly what you've been up to."

"Please. Let me expla-"

"Fuck you, Max," Michael said quietly, darkly. "You lied to my face-"

"Mike, I-"

"Shut up!" Michael snapped and Max started to wonder if he was going to get out of this alive. "I asked you straight to your face if you slept with her and you said no."

"It was not the right time-"

He stared at him incredulously. "Are you screwing with me?"

"She didn't want you to know."

"This is not even about what she wanted me to know or not. This is about you having sex with her! I never thought I would have to spell it out for you, so I never did. Because I thought you knew that my sister was _off limits_. You can fuck every girl on this earth, but not _Liz_."

"Mike, hear me out," Max tried. "She meant more to me than the other girls. So much more. It was never just a one-night stand."

He laughed humourlessly. "Oh, really? I thought that was what you called it if you only had sex once."

"There were so many misunderstandings and-"

He raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed tightly across his chest, making him look as inaccessible as he sounded. "Misunderstandings?"

"Yeah," Max said, relieved that Michael was letting him talk. "Liz thought that I was only using her-"

"And you weren't?"

Max narrowed his eyes at Michael, sudden anger exploding in his veins. "No, Mike. Of course not. She's my friend."

"I wouldn't treat a friend that way," Michael said acidly.

"I'm not trying to blame it on alcohol, but we were a little drunk that night," Max said. "And I could've sworn that she wanted to."

"She was an 18-year-old confused girl! You know that. She has insecurity issues the size of Mount fucking Everest." His whole body tensing, he asked, "Were you her first?"

"Yes," Max answered quietly, guilt drifting up to the surface.

Michael snorted and said, "Great. That's fucking great."

"I didn't know," Max said. "If I knew it wouldn't have happened like that. Not when she was drunk."

"But you would've done it eventually anyway, is that what you're saying?"

"You must have suspected something."

"You didn't really let me in on your secret activities," Michael said tightly. "And the one time I decided to ask you about it, you blatantly lied to my face. And I believed you. You know why? Because you were my friend. And if you said that you didn't touch my sister inappropriately, I would believe you. Because why would you lie about something like that? To my face?"

"I was protecting Liz."

"Oh bullshit," Michael erupted. "Don't fucking screw with me, Evans."

"She saw it as mistake. She didn't want anyone to know."

"Did you hurt her?" Michael asked tensely, his dark eyes hard.

"What do you mean?" Max asked slowly.

"I mean, when you had sex with my little sister, did you hurt her?"

Max stared at Michael as if he had grown a second head. "Fuck, Mike. How can you even think that? Of course I didn't hurt her. I would kill myself if I ever hurt her."

"What about afterwards then? You didn't hurt her then? Because I'm pretty sure she wasn't crying her eyes out over beautiful sex."

"I tried to get through to her afterwards, but she wouldn't listen. Just like _you_, she has this idea in her head that I did it for fun. That I only wanted a good fuck."

"Didn't you?"

Max took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. "I know you're angry and you have every right to be. But what happens between Liz and me is not really any of your business."

"Oh," Michael laughed hollowly. "Is that right?"

"She's old enough to make her own decisions. She was back then as well."

"I'm her brother, Evans," Michael spit out. "I'm supposed to be looking after her. Protect her from scums like you-"

"Mike-" Max protested, but Michael cut him off.

"You are a scum. You consider yourself God's gift to women, something that I generally don't have a problem with, but when you touch Lizzie… I don't think I'll ever forgive you for this."

Max straightened, his jaw clenching along with his fists as he tried to control the suffocating amount of contradicting emotions running through his system.

"Where's Liz , Mike?"

"You really think I would tell you?"

"I really need to speak to her."

"I tell you where she is. After crying her heart out on our couch about a conversation she overheard on the phone between you and your _friend_, she went over to Maria's. And if you even _think_ about going over there, I'm gonna hunt you down and make sure that you'll never enjoy sex ever again."

Max looked at Michael for a long moment, before slowly saying, "Michael…"

"Get out of my face, Evans, before I do something I might regret later."

Like a dog with his tail between his legs, Max turned and walked down the stairs towards his car.

TBC...


	28. Happy Birthday, Elizabeth

**27. Happy Birthday, Elizabeth**

June 22nd, Liz's birthday  
(1999) Max is 13 (going on 14), Liz is 13

She was already awake when Gabriela opened the door early on Saturday morning in the middle of June. Like a child on Christmas morning, she had woken up before dawn and hadn't been able to go back to sleep.

Today was Liz's birthday.

She normally didn't care much for birthdays. They were just another day. Being part of a family where objects were used as proof of affection and presents on many occasions could be considered bribery, receiving presents on her birthday was nothing special.

But this birthday was different.

At an age of 10, Liz had asked for a pet. Both of her parents had scrunched their noses in simultaneous disgust, their minds bombarded with various images of dirty dogs running all over their expensive carpets or cats ripping their claws through their specially imported furniture.

Being the stubborn girl she was, Liz had been relentless in her pleas for a pet. There had been a need inside of her for someone to love and look after. Someone that was just hers.

So her parents had promised her that she would get a pet on her thirteenth birthday.

Therefore, it was with a bright smile that she opened her eyes on that Saturday morning as Gabriela opened the blinds and let the sun in.

"Happy birthday, querida," Gabriela said and smiled brightly as she met Liz's shiny eyes.

Liz took a deep breath, feeling the happiness seep into every pore of her body, and quickly pulled the sheet off her body. Today was a new day. Today was the beginning of a happier life.

Before her feet had a chance to touch the floor, her mother burst through the door.

Liz startled, her mouth falling open in muted surprise as she found herself looking up into the almost wild face of her birth mother.

"Elizabeth," Nancy Parker almost screamed. "Why are you still in bed?!"

Getting over her shock, Liz pressed her lips firmly together at the accusative tone of her mother's voice. "Good morning to you too, mom."

Nancy narrowed her eyes at her daughter's tone before storming over to Liz's walk-in closet and quite efficiently disappearing from Liz's view.

"Why are you not ready yet?" Nancy's voice drifted out from the closet.

"Ready for what, mother?" Liz asked tersely, silently looking over at Gabriela for answers. But the housekeeper seemed just as lost, as she looked at her employer's daughter apologetically.

Nancy re-appeared and threw a black bikini with pink dots onto the bed. "For your party, dear."

A tremble of fear went through Liz. She hadn't planned a party. She hadn't had a birthday party since she was seven. She hated birthday parties.

"What party?"

Her mother walked around the bed to her side and looked at her as if she was slightly below the average IQ-level. In a sweet, condescending voice that really only her mother could perfect, Nancy said, "It's your _birthday_, Elizabeth. It requires a party."

Before Liz could announce that her birthday certainly didn't require a party, Nancy grabbed a hold of Liz's tank top and pulled it over her head.

Liz's startled body gasped as the cool air hit her suddenly naked upper body and in raw embarrassment she folded her arms across her budding breasts. "_Mom!_"

Nancy regarded her quietly and Liz's indignation stuck to her lips as disapproval gradually colored the tense line of her mother's mouth. "You've gained weight."

Liz shivered, feeling ice cold. Trapped in Nancy's cold judgmental eyes, Liz couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Her mother's words paralyzed her.

"Maybe you should wear a one piece," Nancy continued.

"Mrs. Parker, there's nothing wrong with her body," Gabriela interrupted, her voice coming from somewhere next to Liz. Liz hadn't noticed her move from her position at the windows, but the warm voice of the housekeeper broke the paralysis and Liz reached behind herself to pull the abandoned sheet around her body to cover up.

Without turning her head away from her daughter, Nancy's voice held a tone of warning as she calmly said, "Be careful, Gabriela. You can easily be replaced."

"Yes, ma'am," Gabriela stuttered, thinking of her own children at home that were depending on her regular income, "I'm sorry, ma'am."

"I'm not having a party, _Nancy_," Liz said coldly, intentionally using her mother's first name because right now, her birth mother did not feel like her mother at all.

"Yes, young lady. You are."

"I have not planned a birthday party," Liz said evenly, her psyche still absorbing the hurtful words her mother had said just a minute ago.

"I know. But I have."

Liz bit her teeth together. "I don't want a party. If I wanted a party I would've invited people on my own." Another thought struck her and with growing dread she added, "Who did you invite?"

"Some people at your school," Nancy answered, her calm voice in stark contrast to the turbulent ramifications her actions were about to have on Liz's existence.

"Who, mother?"

"Kathryn Smith, Louise Dalton, Pamela Troy…"

While her mother rattled of one name after the other of girls and boys from the wealthier part of town, people Liz had barely exchanged two words with, Liz felt the sudden need to run away.

As her mother reached the end of the twenty or so snobs invited to the party, Liz felt like screaming. But her voice was controlled as she said, "I don't know any of those people. I don't want to celebrate my birthday with strangers."

"It's about time you find some good girls to socialize with."

Liz pushed to her feet and yelled in utter frustration, "_I don't want to socialize!_"

"Darling," Nancy said with a soft voice, her eyes hard and controlling. "You might not see it now, but you will thank me later. You're already building your future. You need to build a good social network so that eventually you can find yourself a nice young man and get married."

Liz stared at her mother, feeling as if she had been transported into some Jane Austen movie. "Do you know that we are in the 21st century? You actually believe that all I want to do with my life is to find a rich prick and get married?"

"Watch your language, Elizabeth."

"Who are you to tell me what I should do with my life, huh? "

Nancy's eyes darkened with anger as she stared at her rebellious daughter. "Who am I? I'm your mother!"

Liz ripped her tank top out of Nancy's hands and pulled it back over her head. "No. You're only my mother when it's _convenient_!" Brushing past her mother with her steps aimed for the bathroom, she yelled over her shoulder, "You can cancel that party, Nancy, because don't expect me to show up."

"Stop Elizabeth."

Nancy's voice was a low and even command that could have even the largest man trembling in his boots – or put a halt to a daughter's angry pace.

"You will attend this party, my dear daughter. And you will do it with utmost grace and hospitability. Because if you don't, I'm sending you to that boarding school outside of New York City."

Liz's heart dropped in her chest and she squeezed her eyes together as her fists clenched at her sides. It was extortion, but there was nothing she could do about it. It was either obey or be sent off and not see her brother for a long time. She couldn't bear that.

"Fine," she whispered.

"What was that, honey?" Nancy asked cheerily, even though she had heard perfectly well what her daughter had said.

Liz raised her voice and mustered up a smile as she turned to face her mother. "I'll get dressed."

"Happy birthday, Elizabeth," Nancy said and disappeared out the door.

Gabriela quietly observed the poor girl for another second before opening her mouth to offer some words of comfort. Before the middle aged woman had a chance to do just that, Liz's tense voice interrupted her, "Please leave, Gabriela."

"Miss…"

Liz's voice softened as her eyes begged the housekeeper for her understanding. "I need to be alone."

"Yes, querida."

Just before she crossed the threshold to the hallway, Gabriela turned. Her eyes caught the tear running down the cheek of the lost girl, trembling on the border of womanhood, standing in the middle of the room and Gabriela whispered, "Your mother is blind, Lizzie. You are beautiful."

Another tear fell down Liz's cheek, and with her throat too clogged up to speak she nodded her thanks with an attempted smile.

--

**Two hours later**

"Miss Liz Parker," an amused voice said behind her and her whole body took a deep breath as she momentarily squeezed her eyes tightly closed before acknowledging him without turning her head.

"Hello Max."

"The rumor is that it's your birthday."

"Yep," she said as she put the glass underneath the running water. She desperately tried to ignore the fact that she was standing practically naked in the kitchen with obnoxious Max Evans. With her mother's earlier comment about her having put on weight still ringing in her ears her body was tensing in anticipation of Max making a comment about it. Considering the usual speed by which Max hurried to throw teasing comments her way, she was a bit surprised that he hadn't said anything yet.

She didn't know that right then Max was slowly running his eyes down the vast amount of tanned skin exposed to him, his gaze pausing slightly at the parts covered by the black and pink bikini where he couldn't help but notice that little Lizzie had started to become a woman. Her hips were not the straight lines he had seen two years ago. There were curves to her body. Not as strong curves as the girls in his year, but there was a definite inward curve to her waist and a smooth outward curve of her hips. Standing slightly to her side, he couldn't help but notice the budding breasts covered by the dotted bikini.

Liz had no idea that the thoughts running through Max's head at that moment had nothing to do with if she had gained weight or not, but had much more to do with letting his imagination slowly undress the small articles of clothing covering her.

She turned around, catching Max staring at her and with a quick snap of his neck he looked up at her face, looking every bit the guilty observer which had Liz self-consciously folding her arms across her chest as much as the glass in her hand would allow.

"I guess 'Happy Birthday' is in order then," Max said, struggling to keep his eyes above the level of her nose.

"Yeah," she said thinly. "Happy birthday to me."

If Max hadn't been so distracted by her half-naked state he might've picked up on the dead quality of her voice, but as it was he didn't. It wasn't easy to be a warm-blooded male teenager with raging hormones racing through his veins. Speaking of which, "How does it feel to be a teenager?"

"Groovy," she said without a single trace of emotion. "I don't remember inviting you, by the way."

Her words snapped him back to reality and he grinned. "I don't think you invited any of those people out there either. Still, there they are."

She didn't really feel like having Max figuring out that her mother had thrown this party and Liz had failed in fighting it. "I wanted to get to know some new people."

He raised an incredulous eyebrow with an amused twitch of the corner of his mouth. "Really?"

In stubborn defiance, she raised her chin and took a step closer to him, her body straightening and her previously shielding arms falling to her sides. "I thought it was about time that I got away from lowlife scum like you."

He looked down at her, only two inches taller but enough to enable him to loom over her. "So you decided to hang out with snobby lowlives instead?"

"What I do or don't do is my business," she replied.

"Sure," Max said casually which broke the strength of her defensiveness and had her suddenly noticing her proximity to him while she was once again reminded of her undressed state.

She took a step back and watched a crooked smile spread across Max's features.

"You're starting to fill out that bikini, Lizzie," he said and her face flushed with redness.

His grin grew deeper at the sight of what he perceived to be her blushing, but which really was the color of embarrassment as Liz misunderstood him. Maybe if her mother hadn't made that comment earlier, Liz would've understood that Max was – as always – making a sexual comment. But as it was, Liz thought he meant that she was in fact getting fat.

With a whispered, "Asshole", Liz walked past Max and disappeared out onto the garden patio.

--

**One hour later**

Liz laid back down on the reclining beach chair and rearranged the sunglasses on her nose. Would this party ever end? She had tried her best to be civil to the guests so that her mother wouldn't have any reason to send her away, but she couldn't do it any more. All fake smiles and polite conversations were suffocating her.

So when shocked shrilled screams from about fifteen teenage girls broke through the conversations on which mascara was the best, which guy in school was the better kisser and who had most recently lost their virginity, Liz first emotion was not the terror that the rest of the girls seemed to be feeling but immediate relief.

She pulled her dark sunglasses down her nose to look over their rim at the scene in front of her. Something seemed to be flying through the air, making girls jump, scream and run, but it was not until one of those things fell on her flat stomach that she realized what it was.

She gasped as the cold water spread across her stomach and she stared down at the remains of the yellow balloon lying in shreds on top of her skin.

Water balloons. They were being attacked by water balloons.

Knowing almost instinctively where to look, she aimed her gaze towards the roof of the adjacent garden shed and of course there they were. Her two years older brother and his best friend, armed with water balloons in all primary colors.

As soon as she had pin-pointed the origin to the chaos, her ears filtered through the screams and she heard Max and Michael's amused laughter, making a tremble of ignited anger shake her body.

They were going to have her sent away.

She would've put on all those fake smiles for nothing. It all would've been for nothing.

She pushed herself up from the chair so forcefully that it tumbled over on its side behind her. With livid steps she covered the distance between the lounging area and the shed.

Liz looked up at Max and Michael and opened her mouth to yell at them when a red balloon connected with her forehead, shredding from the impact and covering Liz in water.

A gasping laughter erupted over her, which she very easily recognized as Max's, and biting her lips together she slowly pushed her wet hair away from her face before she looked up again, seething with anger.

"_Fucking stop that right now!_"

"Oh," Max said, eyes wide in mock fear. "Liz is telling us to stop."

Michael watched his balloon hit a blonde girl and happily watched her shriek before turning to look down at his sister. "Why?" His voice was innocent as he added. "We're just making the party a bit more interesting."

"You're ruining it!" Liz erupted. If circumstances had been different, she probably would've been up there with them. She couldn't deny that her fingers were itching to throw water balloons at certain people at this party. But her mother, even in her absence, had made sure that she couldn't.

"Come on, Lizzie," Max said and threw another balloon in her direction. She stepped out of its range a millisecond before it hit her and glared up at him.

He delivered one of his charming smiles and said, "This is a pool party, right? What's a pool party without water?"

"Cut it out right now," she ordered between clenched teeth.

"Oooh, Mike," Max said and looked at Michael worriedly, his eyes still twinkling with mischief. "I think she's getting angry."

"Lighten up, Liz," Michael said and sent a water balloon her way. It hit her on her neck and had water running down her right side.

"Whoohoo," Max called and high-fived Michael. "Good one!"

"_I hate you_," Liz yelled to them both, which had Michael slightly halting his actions.

"Lizzie, come up here," he said, "It's fun!"

"Mother is gonna have a fit and she's gonna blame me!" Liz yelled back.

"Mom needs to lighten up," Michael answered. Being the boy in the family, his mother had not exposed Michael to the same tough love that she'd exposed her daughter to and therefore Michael would never fully understand the control Nancy had over Liz.

As despair filled Liz, her anger gradually dissipated and the tone of her voice was different as she said, "Please stop."

"We need more balloons," Max told Michael, both boys completely missing Liz's pleading.

"I have more in my room," Michael answered.

"Sweet," Max said and disappeared out of Liz's view as he ran to the other side of the roof, to the ladder the boys had placed there earlier.

When Max disappeared from the roof, Liz looked out over the battlefield, grimly noting that girls were picking up their bags and hurriedly heading for the exits.

"Great party, _Lizzie_," Pamela Troy bit out sarcastically, her hair dripping with water, as she passed Liz.

Liz watched the girls desert the backyard and as she turned to escape to her room, she mumbled sadly under her breath "Thanks guys" to her destructive brother and his best friend.

Even though Mrs. Parker never sent Liz to boarding school because of the incident, completely blaming the bad influence of Max Evans on her son for the fiasco, Liz always hated her birthday from that point on.

TBC...


	29. Over the Rainbow

**28. Over the Rainbow**

Max's Apartment  
Early Thursday morning  
(2008) Max is 23, Liz is 22

The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was his eyes observing her quietly.

"Hey," she said softly.

Everything was different now.

He smiled slowly and whispered, "Hey."

In only a couple of hours and with only a few words, everything had changed.

His hand brushed against her forehead. "How did you sleep?"

There were still a lot of conversations that needed to be explained and forgiven, but right now they were both content knowing that their feelings were reciprocated.

She smiled, a warm shiver rushing through her at the touch of his fingers against her skin. "Good. Really good."

He had barely slept at all. He had kept waking up to check if she was really there. Still sleeping next to him. But she hadn't moved an inch all night.

"Good dreams?"

She rubbed her eye with the back of her hand as she mumbled, "Can't remember."

"I bet you had a good conversation with someone at some point," Max said.

She looked at him suspiciously and said slowly, "Maybe…" Her eyes narrowed. "Why do you say that?"

He grinned. "You tend to talk in your sleep."

His grin widened as she looked stunningly chagrin. "I do not."

He chuckled. "Yes you do."

"I do not."

"'Oh Max ooooh Max'," he moaned and broke out in laughter as she flung herself at him.

"Shut up," she warned as she pressed her hand against his lips to stop them from making those embarrassing sounds. "You're full of it, Evans."

He grabbed a hold of her waist and pulled her currently semi-draped body more fully on top of his, which had her loosening her grip on his mouth.

Her body heated by its own device as he kissed the palm that was against his lips.

"But it's true," he murmured against her hand.

She looked down at him, momentarily having forgotten what they were talking about.

"You _do_ talk in your sleep," he continued.

"We've been in the same bed a lot of times," she said, feeling her heart thumping against her ribs as she watched him slowly cover the entire surface of her palm with kisses. "Why haven't you noticed before?"

He stopped his ministrations and instead placed her hand down on his T-shirt clad chest, right above his heart. The twinkle was back in his eyes as he said, "Who says I haven't?"

She groaned and rolled off him, pressing her arms over her face so that her voice came out muffled. "Do I even want to know what I've told you throughout the years?"

"There's been a lot of moaning and…my name of course," she heard Max say as the blood flushed to her face.

"You're lying."

She felt him pull at her arms and finding no use in even trying to resist, she let him pull the arms away. With her eyes still firmly pressed together she felt him move closer, from the heat of his skin and his warm breath fluttering across her face. She trembled as he placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Yes, I am."

"I don't like you anymore," she murmured and with her eyes still closed she was convinced that he was smiling at her.

"No?"

She shook her head firmly. "No. Go away."

She felt the bed dip and curiously peeked with one eye. She frowned as she saw him standing next to the bed. "Where're you goin'?"

"I'm going away," he answered.

She sighed loudly. "Come here, you moron."

He didn't need much more convincing than that and the next second he was laying on the bed, his chin resting on her collarbone as he looked up at her face. "You know, you are very high maintenance."

"I thought you knew that by now."

"Just saying…"

"Hmm."

"So…" His fingers trailed underneath her tank top at the bottom of the fabric and her breath fluttered in her throat. "Is there anything I can get you?"

She cocked her head to the side and smiled at him sweetly. "Are you gonna be my slave?"

He frowned, but couldn't help but laugh. "I'll be any slave you want."

"Kitchen slave?"

"Sure."

Her eyes brightened. "Would you clean my toilet?"

"Er…that's the same one Mike's using, so uhm…"

"No?"

"No."

"What about my homework slave?"

"You know what?" He spread his hand flat against her stomach underneath her top covering her bellybutton and she bit her bottom lip to stop herself from reacting. With a knowing smile on his lips, he slid his body slightly more north, his hand sliding along to come to rest across her rib, his thumb resting against the bottom of her bra. "I could be your sex slave."

A slow smile spread across her lips as she looked down at him. Her heart beat was loud in her ears as she took in his tousled hair which made him look very boyish in an incredibly sexy way. "Really?"

He shrugged, angling his hand underneath her top to trail his fingertips against the underside of her breast, and said casually, "I think I can do it."

"I have very high expectations, you know," Liz had time to say before her voice hitched in her throat as he pressed his lips into the indention at the base of her throat.

"Do you?" he asked, his voice making her skin vibrate and she clenched the sheet underneath her body in her fist.

"Uh-huh. I have certain criteria that need to be fulfilled."

"Criteria?"

His lips travelled up her throat in a heavenly combination of tickling and desire. A soft moan whispered across her lips.

"Yep. See-" she inhaled deeply as he placed a kiss against the sensitive skin behind her ear. "I was with this guy once…"

Her voice trailed off as he tensed against her ever so slightly, but enough for her to notice. Instinctively, she knew what he was assuming right then so she happily continued. Just because they had sorted some things out didn't mean that she still wouldn't enjoy watching Max Evans squirm.

"He kinda set the standard, you know."

Max lifted his head and looked at her, his eyes dark and drowning in emotions while he waited for her to continue. "So…what standard are we talking about?"

A slow smile spread across her lips which had Max audibly swallowing. "He knew exactly what I wanted. What I needed."

Max tried his best to keep his emotions under control, but jealousy was roaring its ugly head making it really difficult. "That's…handy." As casually as he could muster, he added, "What happened to this person?"

She brought her fingers up to his face and tenderly brushed a runaway strand of his bangs to the side, an almost pensive expression on her face. "He loved me."

There was wonder in her voice, as if she couldn't believe that to be true. Max's breath caught in his throat. His heart was hoping that she was talking about him, but he was deadly afraid that she was not.

Pain flashed in her eyes which had him automatically tightening his hold on her. "But he didn't know that I loved him too. Then one night we got really," she smiled at him and he brushed his fingers down her face with an answering sad smile, "really drunk. And things got a bit out of hand."

Concern crept into his facial features as she looked away from him, but not before he could see the deep pain tighten her lips.

"Lizzie…" he whispered.

She looked back at him, eyes glittering with fresh tears but hope flattering her weak smile. "But he took care of me. Even though I always pushed him away and always treated him like…well…shit," he grinned, brushing a tear away from her cheek with the flat of his thumb, "he treated me like someone really special that night."

"You are special," he whispered.

She shook her head slowly at him. "Why Max? I don't get it. Why me?"

He brushed another tear away and placed a tender kiss on her forehead. Pulling back slightly and leaning his forehead against hers, he looked into her eyes and asked, "Why not you?"

"There are so many beautiful, _well-functioning_ girls out there. Why won't you go for one of them?"

"Because they're not you." He sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. "You still don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"How beautiful you are."

She blushed and dropped her eyes, still not comfortable with compliments. She wasn't really used to them.

"I'm damaged."

"In the most beautiful way."

"Max…"

"Liz…"

She sighed. "What if you grow tired of me?"

He frowned and then pulled back from her. His voice was bordering on scolding as he said, "Liz…"

She pushed herself up into a sitting position, wrapped her arms around herself and said stubbornly, "I'm serious, Max."

"So am I, kitten," he said and to his right looked completely serious. "You still don't get it."

She pushed her bottom lip out in a temperamental pout and said, "Of course I do."

He shook his head and grabbed a hold of her upper arms, pulling her into his lap. Her thighs slid down on either side of his hips and he fastened his hands against the small of her back, effectively pushing her front up against him.

"Do you consider me a patient guy?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

"Who would put up with anything?"

She considered this for a second or two before answering, "Not really. I mean, you don't take crap."

He smiled and was slightly surprised that she knew that about him. But at the same time he knew he shouldn't be surprised. "Exactly. And how would you define _our_ relationship?"

She looked at him for a moment before she rolled her eyes, knowing what he was fishing for, and said indifferently, "Yes, yes. I annoy you to death and all I ever do is give you crap."

"So why haven't I gotten rid of you?"

"Because you are a sucker for pain?" she asked brightly.

"Funny. Try again."

She sighed and dropped her eyes to where her hands were fiddling with the collar of his T-shirt. Her voice was a mere mumble as she said, "I know what you're saying. I just can't get rid of this fear that you're gonna leave."

He framed her face in his hands and brought their lips together in a slow kiss. "I'm not going anywhere."

"What if I scream at you too much?"

"I'll scream back."

"What if I throw stuff at you?"

"I'll take your stuff away."

"What if I kick you?"

He laughed. "Well, I won't be happy about that."

His laughter trailed off as she stilled, her small hands carefully tracing his face. "You know what?"

He looked at her adoringly. "What?"

"You're actually not all that bad, Evans."

He started laughing and as a wide grin spread across her face, he rolled them on the side so that she eventually ended up underneath him.

Breathlessly, he smiled at her, "She finally gets it."

Mischief dancing in her eyes, she said, "Maybe."

"How about a bath?" he asked out of the blue.

She narrowed her eyes, rebellion shining through as quickly as you ignite a match. "With you?"

"I'm your sex slave, aren't I?"

She stumbled over the words with only one word really coming out clearly, "Max…"

He softened, "Relax. Bath. For you. Alone."

She observed him quietly. "You're not mad?"

"We just became friends," Max said and Liz almost laughed at his choice of word. I guess friends _was_ the next step after enemy, but she had always considered them friends anyway. In some backward way. "Let's not rush."

She arched her eyebrow. "Just friends? Because I don't really make out with Maria, you know."

He feigned disappointment, "You don't?" and she pushed him off her.

"You're so gross," she stated as she pulled the sheet off the bed to wrap around her body. Because even though she had plenty of clothes on, "It's freaking freezing in here by the way."

"It's all part of my evil plan to have you wanting to sleep close to me."

"That's just low, Evans. Even for you," she said, but was smiling on the inside. She was too happy today to be anywhere near annoyed with him.

Her eyes followed him as he passed her to the adjoining bathroom and she hugged the sheet closer as desire ripped through her body. He was wearing a black T-shirt and grey sweatpants, which for some reason made him look very sexy. The bed-head didn't hurt either.

She leaned against the doorframe as she watched him turn on the tap in the bathtub, adjust the heat and then straighten his back. Her eyes landed on his chest and she suppressed a laugh as she read the familiar text on his shirt (this was one of his older shirts); _Drink till you want me_

"What?" he asked as he saw her struggling facial expression.

She waved her hand in a don't-mind-me gesture and swallowed the laughter. He of all people really didn't need a shirt like that. But she couldn't help but see the irony in it. She herself hadn't let herself want him until she'd had a couple of glasses.

"Tell me, Evans," she said as he turned to the bathroom cabinet. "Is this something you do for all your girls?"

He chose to not address the 'all your girls' part of that question. "Nope. Only you."

She nodded, feeling oddly comforted by that answer. "Alrighty."

Then she narrowed her eyes as she focused on what he was pulling out of the cabinet. "What's that?"

The bottle was pink. It looked very…girly.

"Bubbles."

"Bubbles?"

He opened the lid to one of the small plastic bottles and poured it into the tub. "Bubbles."

"Hmmm," Liz said slowly. "Tell me something. If you never do this for other girls, why do you have bubbles at home?"

She just could not picture Max in a bubble bath. Oh wait. She could. Darn. Get out get out get out.

While Liz tried to abolish the mental image that was getting her really hot and bothered, Max's face flushed crimson red for a completely different reason.

"_I_ never use it."

"Sure you don't," Liz said and tried not to snicker.

"Maria gave it to me."

"Maria?"

"She thought I needed to relax."

Liz started laughing. "That's…" she took a deep breath. "Hilarious."

Max frowned. "Apparently the smells are supposed to have a calming effect or something."

Liz pressed her arms around her middle as the laughter wrecked havoc on her stomach muscles. "Oh my God."

When Max started looking insulted, Liz laughed even harder. "It's not that funny."

"Did she-" she gasped for air "give you a bath cap as well?"

"Okay, that's it," he grumbled.

Liz's eyes had time to widen in fear before he grabbed her around the waist and draped her over his shoulder. Her laughter came to an abrupt stop as she hit her fists against his shoulder blades. "Put me down!"

He unceremoniously did just that. Into the bathtub.

She shrieked and tried to get up, but he pressed her back down. Her clothes clung to her body and she sputtered as bubbles tried to invade her mouth.

"What are you doing?" she yelled at him.

He put a finger across his lips and hushed, "Shh…neighbors."

Her eyes became like two narrow slits as she picked up on the smug draped across his face and within a few seconds she had grabbed a hold of the 'Drink till you want me' shirt and had pulled Max off balance, on top of her, into the bathtub.

He spluttered in surprise, his hands moving over her body as he tried to grab onto something to be able to push himself back to his feet again.

She gasped as his hands moved over her breasts, down over her hips and back up to her waist. "Max…"

He stopped struggling and let himself sink down against her body, his hands moving to cradle her face. "I thought you didn't want to take a bath with me."

"You were dirty," she enunciated slowly and he grinned.

Her hair swirled around her in the water as she sank further down from the weight of his body. His hands around her face were the only thing keeping her above the surface.

He looked at her seriously, brushing his thumb slowly over her bottom lip. "I love you."

Her eyes brightened before her mouth caught on and she smiled the biggest smile he had ever seen. "Yeah?"

He gently kissed her lips. "Yeah."

The water sloshed around them when she pulled her arms up to wrap them around his neck. Water flowed over the edges of the bathtub as her legs wrapped around his waist, crushing their wet bodies together.

Her heart raced as she tasted his lips. She shivered as her tongue touched his and her grip on his body tightened.

"You want some breakfast?" he said against her lips.

"You'll do," she answered and moaned as his hand fluttered downwards to brush over her breast.

"Toast?" he placed open-mouthed kisses along her jaw line while she threaded her fingers through his damp hair. "Bacon?" Her body arched up against his, causing the water to slosh some more, as he pulled her earlobe between his lips. She giggled as his breath tickled her ear, "Eggs? Omelet?"

"Only you," she gasped. She slid the back of her head up to rest on the edge of the bathtub as his hands moved down her sides and slid underneath her top.

"Pancakes?"

She closed her eyes and moaned in ecstasy as his palm cradled her left breast. "Mmm…pancakes."

His thumb brushed across her nipple and she trembled with desire. "Max."

His mouth traced along her shoulder, along the water surface, and he mumbled, "With maple syrup? Sugar? Jam? Ice cream?"

"Mmm…ice cream," she whispered and directed his lips back to hers. "I love ice cream."

He pulled back to smile at her and brush her hair away. With another touch of his lips against hers he pulled away, causing several more liters of water to flow over the edge of the tub.

She stared at him with her mouth falling open. "Wh-what are you doing?"

He smiled at her, running his finger slowly along her exposed wet thigh. "I'm making you breakfast."

"No," she said, and rose up to pull him back to her. But he was already moving out of the tub.

"No, where are you going?" she asked, her voice gaining in intensity.

His drenched clothes dripped water across the tiled floor and he pulled his T-shirt off.

She inhaled sharply at the sight of his tanned toned chest. He had been beautiful that night, but if possible he was even more beautiful now. In four years he had filled out. Grown into a man.

A mouth-wateringly beautiful man.

He smiled as he saw her eyes wander, trying very hard himself to stop himself from reacting to how every inch of her top was plastered to her front. Not to mention how transparent the water had made that piece of fabric.

"I'll leave you alone to tend to your bath now, okay?"

"Maaax…" she warned, daring him to leave her.

He smiled at her sweetly. "Oh, and it might be easier without clothes."

Her mouth fell open in dumbfounded disbelief and he quickly made a start for the door.

"You come back here right now," she yelled as he disappeared into the adjoining bedroom.

He laughed under his breath before yelling back over his shoulder. "Just take your time and relax."

"I hate you!" she yelled and he shook his head with the widest grin as he opened the bedroom door.

"Hate you too," he responded.

TBC...


	30. Coming Clean

**29. Coming Clean**

Wednesday afternoon  
(2008) Michael is 24, Liz is 22

"How was your day?" Michael asked as she walked through the front door.

She shrugged, just wanting to get to her room. The conversation she'd had with Serena in the car had upset her. She wasn't quite sure why, but it felt as if it had tipped the scales over.

"Is everything okay?" Michael asked as his sister barely acknowledged him, throwing her jacket on the floor next to the door before continuing her hasty walk towards her room. "Lizzie?"

"Everything's fine," she answered over her shoulder, slowing down and turning to face him.

There was no need to make him worry for nothing. Just be normal. You can act normal, Lizzie.

"I just walked the dogs. Fed them and made sure they were happy. There was actually this cute little…uhm…schnauzer I think they're called. All he wanted to do was lick me. I would take him for walks but he wasn't interested in walking at all. He jumped up against my leg and… What?"

Michael was looking at her funny. It didn't take her long to realize her mistake. She was babbling. She never did that.

"You're sure you're okay?"

The corners of her mouth twitched nervously as she smiled. "Yes. They were so funny, Mike. You should've seen-"

Michael just looked even more worried and he interrupted her again, "What happened, Liz? Are they not treating you right? Because I can make a phone call right now and-"

Liz shook her head. "No no." She took a deep breath. "They are really good. They are actually really nice and helpful."

"That's…good," Michael hesitated. "Then what's…" He looked at her closely. "Something's wrong."

"I just had a hard last couple of days, that's all," Liz said casually and then added with attempted humor, "You know, it's difficult for a spoiled brat like me to deal with having lost her allowance and having to get a job."

And then she burst into tears.

Michael stared at her completely crestfallen for a total of three seconds before quickly walking up to her and guiding her over to the couch. As they sat down, Liz buried her face against his sweater, curling up against his side which reminded him of the numerous times he used to comfort her in her closet in their family home.

"Everything's just wrong," Liz sobbed.

"Don't worry about the money, Lizzie," Michael consoled, stroking her hair, "I'll help you out."

"It's not about the money."

"Do you want another job? I could see if I can find something for you. You don't have to work with animals if you don't want to. Max thought it was a good idea and you used to love animals when you were little-"

"It's not the job."

He was at a loss of words, desperately searching his brain for what could've happened that made her so upset. "Then what is it? What happened, Lizzie?"

"I messed up. I've messed up so badly."

"Whatever it is, we can fix it. I'll help you."

"He's always there, you know. Always there. And I've tried to get him out of my head but I can't. I can't stop thinking about him."

Michael tensed. This was about a boy? Liz hadn't been dating for a year. Not since Stalker Sean had cheated on her. Who was she talking about?

"Someone hurt you?"

Anger was already building up inside of him when her quiet voice shocked every thought and emotion out of his body. "It's Max."

Liz felt him tense against her and she pulled her head back to look at him. Sobbing, she pleaded with him to, "Please don't be mad."

"I…" Michael mumbled with shock smeared across his features.

Liz sniffled, tears running unhindered down her cheeks. "I love him."

"But..." Michael stared at his little sister. "You mean as a friend, right? Like a sister loves a brother?"

Biting her trembling bottom lip, she slowly shook her head and Michael pulled away from her.

Quietly, with something akin to fear in his eyes, he asked, "What did he do? Did he…What did he do?"

"He hasn't done anything," Liz whispered, and sniffled, "Nothing that I didn't…agree to."

Michael stared at her and almost spit the words out. "And you love him?"

Liz nodded miserably. "I don't want to. It would be so much easier if I didn't." She wiped at the tears with the back of her hand, her voice hitching on her sobs. There was no turning back now. "We…we slept together."

Anger flickered across Michael's face and then he was on his feet, staring down at her with his chest moving rapidly with every upsetting breath. "That fucking bastard…"

"No," Liz whispered, pleading with him to continue to listen. To not lose control. Not yet.

She needed him. She needed him to listen. She had wanted to tell him for so long, but she had been afraid. Afraid of what she was feeling. Afraid of admitting it to someone. Afraid of what he would do when he found out. But also afraid of how it would affect Michael and Max's friendship. "He didn't take advantage of me. He was really sweet and… He never wanted to hurt me."

Michael shook his head in angry disbelief. "He had sex with you?"

She realized that she was not getting through to him at all. In desperation, she leaned forward, her voice tight as she pleaded with him to, "Please listen. I need to talk to you about this. I need you to _listen_."

Michael tried to swallow back the nausea at the back of his throat. "You want me to listen? You want me to listen about how my best friend fucked my little sister?"

Liz flinched at his choice of words and how he in one single sentence had managed to degrade her experience with Max. "It wasn't like that."

"Haven't you seen what he does with girls?" Michael asked, wondering how his smart sister could be so stupid. Disappointment was pushing through his body, firmly interlaced with hatred towards Max. "He bangs them and then pushes them out the door before they even have time to put their panties back on."

"He doesn't," Liz whispered, not knowing if she was telling the truth or not. Because what Michael had just said was the exact reason why she hadn't dared to even consider pursuing a relationship with Max. That and the fear of how Michael would react, which she was getting the full show of right now.

"You've been around him just as much as I've had, Lizzie. You know that it's true. How could you let him touch you?"

Michael loved Max like a brother and he had never particularly worried about Max's playboy status. Until now.

"Could you just listen?!" Liz said loudly, amongst heartbreaking sobs.

"How long, Lizzie? How long has this been going on?"

"Two days before Christmas," Liz sobbed, "four years ago."

All air seemed to go out of him and he sank down onto the TV-table. "Jesus."

"It was just one night. Nothing has happened since then."

"He fucking lied to me," Michael murmured, remembering the conversation he'd had with Max just a couple of days after Christmas when he had asked Max straight out if he had slept with Liz.

"Don't just blame him. Blame me too. I don't want to… I didn't tell you because I didn't want to ruin your friendship with him."

"It's ruined," Michael said quietly, his whole body looking worn.

His words cut through her heart and she moved to kneel in front of him, looking up into his hanging head with pleading eyes. "Don't do that."

"He played a game with you, didn't he?" Michael asked.

Liz shook her head in denial, but Michael could easily read the insecurity in her eyes.

"That's why there was just one night."

"I can't trust him," Liz said, her heart breaking as she heard the words out loud. "I can't trust him with my heart."

Michael looked at her, taking a deep breath.

"All this time…" he shook his head bitterly. "All the times I've found you fighting… It was more serious than it appeared, wasn't it?"

"Sometimes, yes," Liz answered. "He wants to talk about it. He's been trying to talk to me for the last four years."

Michael frowned. That's odd. Why would Max invest so much time in trying to sort things out if Liz had just been another game to him? "Why haven't you? Why haven't you talked?"

Liz swallowed, dropping her eyes. "Because I'm afraid that he will say something that will make me want him even more."

The anguish in her voice tore at his heart strings and he slid to the floor, enveloping her in his arms.

His warmth made her sobs start anew and she murmured against his shoulder. "I'm so scared, Michael."

"Of what?"

"Of everything inside of me. It hurts…so much."

He smiled sadly into her hair, confused about the feelings that were boiling inside his body. Feelings that he had just temporarily managed to put a lid on because Liz needed him now. "It sounds like you're in love, sis."

She started crying again, hitching out the words in between sobs, "I think he loves me too. I really think he does. And that scares the hell out of me. Because I can't disappoint him. And I don't want him to…get tired of me and move on. So I've been playing this game. To keep him close, but still far away. So he can't reach me but still won't go away."

Michael sighed heavily. "Couldn't you have fallen for someone else? Why Max Evans?"

She gave a teary laugh at his weary voice, which had a small smile grazing his lips as well. Amongst all turbulent feelings, Michael felt a contentment he hadn't felt in years move through him. His little sister had let him into her life again. He used to know everything about her and then one day she suddenly became so distant.

He had suspected that something had been a bit off between his friend and his sister, but he would've never guessed that their strained relationship was the reason why his relationship with his sister had fallen apart.

"And," Michael said seriously, pulling back and lovingly pushing Liz's hair out of her face. "If you ever want to let Max know how you feel, I suggest you tell him soon, before I get to him."

Liz buried her face in her hands, her voice muffled as she said anxiously, "I can't tell him. I can never tell him." She removed her hands and looked at him seriously. "And you can't tell him either."

"I can't promise that, squirt," Michael said. "There's no way I can pretend like nothing happened."

"I don't expect you to," Liz said softly, "I just don't want him to know that I…feel something for him."

Michael looked at her closely, right then realizing that his baby sister had grown up. She was a hot-blooded woman with complex thoughts and strong emotions. She had always been strong-headed, but when had she gone from taunting boys into crying over boys?

"What do you want, Lizzie?"

She looked at him, biting her bottom lip nervously. What did she want?

What did she want?

TBC...


	31. Does Your Mother Know

**30. Does Your Mother Know**

Max and Liz's Apartment  
(2009) Max is 24, Liz is 23

"Elizabeth, I'm twenty minutes outside of town. Put on some tea."

Click.

Liz slowly removed the phone from her ear and literally saw her day darken.

Max stepped out of the bedroom, wearing only a pair of boxers, his hair tousled. He tiredly rubbed his eyes as he yawned, walking slowly in her direction. He wasn't used to being woken up at seven on a Sunday morning.

As his vision cleared, his body was about to go into another yawn, but it was interrupted as he saw the look on her face.

"Lizzie?" he asked concerned and stepped up to her.

She was still holding the phone in her hand so he gently disentangled her fingers from it and put it down on the kitchen table.

"You've met my mother, right?" she asked.

He looked at her closely, running his hands up and down her bare arms in attempt to create heat by friction. She looked cold. "Not in a long time, but yes."

"Oh…okay. She's coming."

He frowned. "When?"

"Oh, in about twenty minutes."

His eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "What?"

She moved out of his hold and walked into the kitchen. "We should put on some tea."

He stood staring at her. "Some tea?"

"She wanted tea. So I'm making tea."

He stepped up to her and gently took the kettle from her hand. Turning her to face him, he cradled her face between his hands and first then noticed the tears she had been trying to hide.

"Hey," he said softly and brushed the tears off her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs. "What's wrong?"

"She's just…" she bit her lower lip, her eyes large and sad, and slowly shook her head. "She's gonna hate you."

He smiled at her, one of those smiles that could melt ice. "Leave that to me."

"You don't understand," she mumbled. "You don't come from a respectable family. You don't have an education and we're not even married."

"Do you want to get married?" he wondered.

She sighed, the bad mood already putting its firm claws in her. "You're missing the point!"

He caught her flaring arms and pulled her into the comfortable circle of his arms. "Kitten, don't worry."

"You don't know what she's like," Liz whispered into his chest.

He kissed her temple, his hand running through her silky hair. "I can handle her."

She pulled away and wiped the tears out of her eyes with the back of her hand. "I need to vacuum."

His eyes widened. "Vacuum?" They had moved into the apartment just three weeks ago. He wasn't sure they even had a vacuum cleaner yet. "Love…"

"I need to make sure that she doesn't have that much to complain about," Liz said and looked down at herself, seeing herself with her mother's eyes. "God, I look horrible."

"What?" Max wondered in confusion. "No, you're beautiful."

No longer with Max in their apartment, but stuck in her head, Liz murmured, "What could I wear?"

"Clothes," Max said slowly, not really recognizing this Liz.

This was not the Liz that went to get the newspaper wearing just his football jersey and Wellingtons. The transformation that was happening in front of his eyes was almost frightening as the love of his life went from being Lizzie to Miss Elizabeth Parker.

"Shit," Liz mumbled.

Crestfallen, Max watched her rush off into the bedroom. As he reached the doorway he found her throwing clothes on the floor.

"Okay, you're officially scaring the crap out of me," he told her and leaned against the doorframe.

"Take a shower," she told him over her shoulder. "If you do it now I'll have time for a shower after you."

"Riiight," he said and with a few determined strides he was behind her, pulling the top out of hand. "You're coming with me."

She twirled around and firmly shook her head. "No. For once, Max. Please. Could you just do as I say?"

"For once, Liz. Please. Could you just do as _I_ say?" he repeated with a lope-sided grin.

"You're not funny. _This_," she spread her arms out to include the islands of clothes covering the floor, "is not funny."

Max nodded, "Totally agree," and swept her into his arms.

"Max," she said calmly, looking at him as if she was negotiating with a madman to put his gun down, "This is really not the time to be you."

"It's always time to be me," he answered simply and kicked open the door to the adjoining bathroom.

"Evans," she repeated. "I mean it."

He placed her feet on the ground and before she could run off, he had pulled her red top over her head.

"No, Max. What are you doing?" She looked up at him impatiently, trying to ignore the fact that he was pressing her naked front against his with the gentle pressure from his firm hand between her shoulder blades.

Like an expert, he swiftly pushed her panties to the floor which were quickly followed by his boxers.

"I said you could shower first," she protested weakly, having goose bumps spread across her skin as he lightly feathered his finger up her thigh and momentarily brushed over her breast.

"Why waste the water?" he asked and kissed her.

"She'll be here in fifteen minutes," Liz mumbled against his lips.

"All the more reason to share the shower."

He slowly walked them backwards together, managing to keep their bodies pressed together, until he was close enough to reach out and turn on the water. He took a step back, bringing her along, just before the water would hit them so that the water could heat up before they got in.

"You know it's never the quicker option for us to shower together," Liz objected and instead of delivering another light comment, he looked at her seriously.

"I'm not leaving you alone today, okay?"

Stunned into speechlessness by his statement, she stared at him.

"Everything's gonna be fine," he added and then it was as if he had never been serious as his face brightened in simplistic cheerfulness. "Let's hop into the shower, shall we?"

Ten minutes later, Liz was feeling a lot more relaxed. Mostly thanks to Max's magic hands. He surely knew how to really relax her.

But when the door bell rang, Liz went from relaxed to a nervous wreck in less than a nanosecond.

Max's hand brushed against the small of her back as he passed her on his way to the door and he stopped for a second to brush his lips against her temple.

"Relax," he whispered and she squeezed her eyes closed and tried to do just that.

As he put his hand on the doorknob, Liz remembered, "Wait! I haven't told-"

But Max had already opened the door, without the knowledge that Mrs. Nancy Parker wouldn't quite understand what Max was doing in Liz's apartment at 7.30 in the morning on a Sunday.

Nancy Parker, with a constant Poker face, didn't even blink in surprise as she saw Max on the other side of the door. She merely put her head on the side and looked at Max through interested narrowed slits, stating simply, "Maxwell Evans."

Max felt nervousness rush through him for a second before pushing it to the side. He mustered up one of his warmest smile. "Mrs. Parker. Nice to see you again."

Without the hint of a smile, Mrs. Parker looked past him into the apartment. "Tell me, Mr. Evans. Where is my daughter?"

Her mother's cool polite voice sent a shiver through Liz as she stepped out from the shadows and walked up to Nancy.

"Mother," she greeted with a weak smile.

"Elizabeth darling," Nancy smiled and grabbed Liz by the shoulders to bring her close before pecking her once on either cheek. "So nice to see you again."

"You too," Liz said and felt Max's hand grab hers.

Nancy looked over Liz's shoulder, scanning the apartment as if she was looking for something. "Is your brother here?"

Liz shook her head in mild confusion. "No. Just me."

"Really? That's rather odd." She looked up at Max with ice cold eyes and Max swallowed.

Liz knew exactly what she was doing. By asking for her son, Nancy quite smoothly told Max that he had no right to be here unless it was in Michael's company.

Liz took a deep breath. "Max lives with me."

Nancy snapped her head back to look at her daughter. Before the tightly pressed line of her mother's mouth could move, Liz continued, "We're together."

"Ah," Nancy said lightly and looked up at Max with a radiant smile. "How lovely."

Max shivered.

Nancy turned back to her daughter and said, "Elizabeth, could I please speak with you?" Looking at Max pointedly, she added, "_Alone_."

Max's hand tightened around Liz's to send the message that she didn't have to go anywhere alone with this woman if she didn't want to.

Liz looked up at him with warmth in her eyes and smiled at him softly, her eyes signaling that she could handle it. "Max, how about you make us some tea?"

"Oh," Nancy said, "That would be lovely."

With one last look at his girlfriend, Max gave her hand a final squeeze before he let go.

Liz took a deep breath and straightened her back. "What did you want to talk about, mother?"

"What's he doing here?"

Gone were the pretense, the fake smiles and exclamations including the word 'lovely'.

"I told you," Liz said patiently. "He lives with me."

"Elizabeth," Nancy said sternly. "This is not the time for games."

Liz bit her lips together in attempt to control her anger. "I'm being serious."

"You're…" Nancy took a deep breath and glanced over her shoulder towards the kitchen, before she turned back and hissed, "…you're actually with this man? The boy from the other side of the neighborhood that your brother used to spend time with?"

"I love him," Liz said softly.

Nancy snorted. "Love."

"Yes, I love him," Liz repeated. "But I don't expect you to know what that means."

"It's not love," Nancy said. "He's only after your money."

Liz gave a short laugh of disbelief. "Are you for real? What world do you live in? Besides, what fucking money? The money you took away from me when I was 22?"

"You still have your trust fund," Nancy replied.

"He's not after my money, mother."

"Did you sleep with him?"

Liz stared at her and then threw her hands in the air and turned her back to her mother. "Oh for Christ's sake."

"_Look at me when I'm talking to you._"

Liz swirled around and looked at her mother with blazing eyes. "Yes, I've slept with him. Actually, I had sex with him just five minutes ago."

Nancy bit her lips together and fought to control her breathing. "I didn't raise you to be a whore."

She knew that she probably shouldn't be surprised by anything that might come out of her mother's mouth by now, but the word still hurt and Liz felt hot tears prickle her eyes. "No, you didn't raise me at all."

"Don't you use that tone with me, Elizabeth," Nancy warned before continuing, "How can you do this to yourself? Live in this dreadful apartment with a no good man that probably sleeps around behind your back."

She knew she had hit a nerve when she saw her daughter flinch and continued on that road, "You think I didn't pay attention? I know what type of man he is. And you do too. That's why you've never told me about him. Because you know he's trash and that the second he gets tired of you he's gonna move on."

Liz blinked tears down her cheek as her mother rambled on, "Let's just face it, Elizabeth. You'll never be able to hold onto him. And with your foul temper I'm very displeased to say that any man is unlikely to want to marry you. Especially considering-"

"_Shut up shut up shut up!_" Liz screamed, covering her ears with her hands.

Hearing Liz's distraught scream, Max rushed out of the kitchen into the living room. Seeing the state Liz was in he coldly addressed Nancy's back, "I think you should leave."

"You have no part in this discussion, boy," Nancy said without turning around. "Leave us be."

"No," Max said calmly. "This is our home. We don't want you here. Please leave."

Nancy turned slowly and huffed as she read the controlled anger in Max's dark eyes. "What are you doing with her, Max? She's out of your league."

"And what league is that?" Max asked.

"Let me put it this way," Nancy said sweetly. "We," she gestured towards her crying daughter and herself, "move in a completely different class from you. While you will forever be stuck at ground level, we're in the penthouse. _You_ belong to the people that only survive because we decide so. _You_ have a job because _we_ hire you. Trust me; you have no place with my daughter."

Max clenched his fists along his sides and evenly asked, "Are you done?"

Her chin in the air, Nancy nodded slowly, a confident smug softly grazing her red-painted lips.

"Without us, _you_ would be swimming in your own shit. _We_ are the ones that clean up after you, make your shoes and gets you drinks. While you live in your penthouses, leaving your kids to fend for themselves in the hands of strangers, we love. When your daughter scraped her knee, she came running to _my_ mom, because her own mother was stuck too far up her own ass to realize that she even had a child. It makes me sick knowing that you on some demented level are proud over the fact that you step over other people. That you don't have the faintest clue about how much your words are hurting your children."

Max stepped around Nancy and pulled Liz into his side. "Have you ever gotten a real hug from her? Do you even know how beautiful she is when she tells you she loves you? Has she even told you she loves you? Do you know that she still doesn't really believe me when I tell her that she's gorgeous? Do you know why? Because you always told her that she wasn't good enough."

Liz looked up at him in surprise. She hadn't told him that. There was no way he could know that.

"And if your plan was to mold her after your own deranged illusions, I have to tell you that you failed. She's not yours. She's strong and fights you every day. She will never be yours. You don't deserve her. You never did."

"How dare you…?" Nancy hissed when Max quieted.

"The door is behind you," Max said with exaggerated politeness.

Nancy turned to her daughter, who was pressed against Max's side with Max's arm around her. "Elizabeth, it's time to leave. This is not your life. This is not who you were meant to be."

"Mother, leave," Liz said darkly.

"Elizabeth, don't-"

"And stop calling me that," Liz exclaimed, "God, it's like I'm some business acquaintance of yours. I'm your _daughter_. Why can't you love me?"

Max's fingers threaded through Liz's hair as a sob ripped from her body.

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course I love you."

"Am I the daughter you wanted?" Liz asked quietly.

Nancy straightened her coat, her red-painted nails flashing in the air like drops of blood. "Well, Elizabeth. I think you know the answer to that question."

"Then you have no reason to be here," Liz said bleakly. Her voice was tired as she added, "Go home, Nancy."

Mrs. Nancy Parker, married at an age of 19 to a man her parents chose for her, looked at her daughter and the man she seemed to have chosen to be at her side as the reality slowly started to sink in. She was losing her daughter and she had no idea how it had happened.

Not really sure where to go from there, her grip on her handbag tightened and without another word she turned on her 300 dollar heels and vanished out the door.

The slam of the door had Liz's knees weakening and Max effortlessly lifted her body up his hips. Wrapping her arms and legs around his body, Max carried her into the bedroom and slowly lowered her onto the bed.

With the sounds of her quiet sobs surrounding them, he slowly removed the cardigan she had so carefully chosen to appease her mother. His mouth kissed her tears off her cheeks while he unbuttoned her blouse. His kisses were languid and tender as they were spread across her skin as his nimble fingers removed more clothing. Seconds after the skirt was discarded on the floor, his hands moved along the upper lining of her black pantyhose and his lips followed the trail of increasingly exposing skin as he slowly pulled the pantyhose off.

"I hate her," Liz mumbled sadly as her tears stilled and Max pulled the panties over her ankles.

He held her foot in his hand and began raining a trail of kisses on the inside of her shin, around her knee and up her thigh. "No you don't."

"Why can't I hate her?" Liz whispered and gasped as his teeth nibbled the back of her knee.

"Because even though she's a witch, she's your mother," Max answered and removed his sweater.

"Does it make me an awful person if I wish she was dead?"

Max looked at her surprised and before he could answer, she continued, "I mean… Why do people like her get to live, but people like your mom have to die?"

Sadness shifted in his eyes and he laid his full weight on top of her, curling his arms around her back and pressing her body into his while he kissed her deeply. Pulling back he whispered, "I don't know."

"How did you know…the things she said? I mean, how did you know that she had said those things to me?"

He removed the rest of his clothing and sank down next to her, aligning their naked bodies side by side. Feathering his fingers across her cheek, he said softly, "I saw it in your heart."

She smiled, quickly followed by an amused twinkle in her eye. "That sounds so Sidney Sheldon."

Her smile was contagious and he smiled at her, even though he didn't really know what she was talking about. "Who's Sidney Sheldon?"

She kissed him, pulling away slowly before answering, "This romance author that Gabriela used to read. All those cheesy lines. I never expected them to come out of your mouth though."

He brightened proudly. "I'm just full of surprises."

She turned contemplative as she ran her finger down the line of his nose. "Yes…yes you are."

He smiled at her softly and guided her onto her back. He proceeded to make love to her thoroughly; trying to fill all the holes in her heart that had been excavated by Nancy Parker.

It was as the late afternoon sun drifted through the window panes that Liz turned to Max and whispered, "I want to marry you."

Max turned his head and looked at her, his eyes brightening and a smile forming on his lips. His voice was husky and soft as he said, "I thought I was supposed to ask that."

She turned on her side, striking Max with her beauty as the rays of the sun cast beams of gold to caress her naked skin, and smiled at him. "I'm tired of waiting for you to ask."

Love made his eyes twinkle and he reached out to slowly brush his index finger down over her lips. "What if I was planning something spectacular that I needed some more time to arrange?"

She rolled her eyes. "The way you asked me earlier if I wanted to get married kinda told me that you don't have anything planned."

"How do you know it's not part of the plan? Maybe I needed to throw you off the trail."

She looked at him dubiously. "By putting me on it?"

Shaking her head ever so slightly, she inched closer to him, pressing her breasts against his warm toned chest as she looked up at him. "Before you mentioned it this morning I hadn't even thought about it that much."

Before he could open his mouth to reply, she frowned and continued, "No, that's not true. Of course I've thought about it. I think about it every day. But I just never thought you would want to actually marry me."

"Kitten, I-"

"I mean," Liz continued, interrupting Max, "Of course I've dreamt about it. I'm a girl after all. We all plan for that wedding. Well, maybe not _all_ girls. Louise in my class only ever talks about how much she hates guys. She's not a lesbian or anything. Even though all the guys think she is. She just thinks that all guys are retards and you don't want to get her started on the topic of marriage… Boy, she's scary. She goes on and on about-"

"Liz…" Max tried again which caused Liz to take a deep breath.

"Okay, okay," she mumbled, her finger brushing over his chest as her thoughts were miles away. "I'm just not really good at this. This is probably why they make it a guy's job, because girls just get too wired up about everything that we have to say and-"

"Baby," Max interrupted again, looking at her mildly amused but with questioning eyes. "What are you trying to say?"

She looked up at him, her teeth tugging on her bottom lip as her body momentarily trembled with nervousness.

Feeling her tremble against him, his fingers drifted up along her spine, causing goose bumps to spread along the path of his fingers. "Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath and struggled to smile at him, but the corners of her mouth instead twitched in awkward tension. "I guess I need a speech or something. I didn't really plan this."

As if to push her nervousness to the side, she shrugged and looked up at him hesitantly. "Max Evans…Will you marry me?"

His mouth fell open and he stared at her. His speechlessness stretched a second too long and Liz started to roll away from him. "Forget it. It's stupid-"

He caught her before she had time to get off the bed and pulled her against his body.

Surprised, she looked into his eyes and found herself warm from the look in his eyes even before he opened his mouth to say, "Yes."

She stared at him for a second before whispering, "You will?"

"You're making it very difficult for me to say 'no', Parker," he said and winked towards her naked state and she rolled her eyes, the nervousness evaporating.

"You're saying 'yes' just because I'm naked?"

"I'm saying yes because I'm feeling very good after hours and hours of mind-blowing sex," Max replied and tried not to laugh as her eyes widened in horrified disbelief. "And yes, because you're naked."

She raised her hand to swat him across the chest, but his hand stopped her.

"No, Liz," he said seriously, making sure that he had eye-contact with her even though her mouth was pouting with indignation and her eyes were fuming with irritation. "I love you."

Her facial features immediately softened and her mouth twitched to loosen up in a smile but her pride wouldn't let her.

"Being your husband has been one of my secret dreams for a long time. How could it not? I would be marrying my best friend."

Breaking out of its restraints, her whole face smiled at him as she bent down to kiss him.

"I love you too," she mumbled against his lips.

"Although, the sex and your body _do_ have a role in this as well," Max added and laughed as she rolled her eyes.

The playfulness was soon replaced with a comfortable stillness and Liz's fingers idly traced the lines of his chest.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

"We're getting married," she whispered with something akin to awe in her voice and met his eyes. "We're actually getting married?"

His face broke out into a smile and he rolled them over, position her underneath his body. She couldn't stop herself from moaning as he moved slightly against her, the brush of their bodies against each other infusing her with a desire that was always boiling just underneath the surface.

His face turned solemn as he looked at her, traced every feature of her face, and then he kissed her slowly.

"We're really doing this?" she asked breathlessly as his lips separated from hers.

His hand brushed down and squeezed her breast, making her gasp. Winking at her, making her heart flutter, he said, "I think it's one of your best ideas thus far, kitten."

Licking her lips, she asked slowly, "So…what other secret dreams do you have, Evans?"

"Oh," he said as if thinking hard about if he should reveal it to her or not. "Hmm… Actually, some of them I can show you right now."

"Really?" she asked interested.

Her body arched up into his as he brushed his fingers over her mound. "Really."

"Please," she said breathlessly. "Tell me everything."

TBC...


	32. All the Small Things

**31. All the Small Things**

Maria's Apartment  
Monday evening  
(2008) Maria is 23, Liz is 22

Maria took one look at her friend and instinctively knew what had happened. "You told Michael about your feelings for Max, didn't you?"

Liz blinked her red, dry eyes, any planned words of greeting getting lodged in her throat.

"What?" she croaked.

Maria cocked her head to the side, looking at Liz calmly. "You thought I didn't know."

Liz's gut reaction was to ridicule Maria's insinuations, but she was left speechless, because the whole purpose of this visit was to pour her heart out to Maria. She was about to tell Maria anyway.

Liz swallowed. "How?"

Maria smiled at her and Liz was struck by how grown-up Maria looked in that moment. It was like her friend was some wise sixty-year-old who had experienced every hardship of love and had learnt invaluable lessons because of it.

"Hun," Maria said softly. "How about some ice cream?"

Liz nodded seriously. "Yeah. That sounds good."

As Maria retrieved the ice cream from the freezer and pulled out a drawer to search for spoons, Liz tiredly sank down on one of the plastic chairs in the small kitchen. Maria had lived in this apartment for over two years already, but it still looked like she had moved in yesterday. Half of her stuff was still packed in large cardboard boxes, Maria's handwriting announcing their content. There were _Clothes_, _Stuff 1_, _Stuff 2_, _BE CAREFUL MICHAEL. Might break_ and _Crap_. Around the plastic kitchen table was one beach chair and two plastic garden chairs. In the large room serving as TV-room, bedroom and sometimes eating area, a king sized mattress had been placed on the floor. Maria had never really gotten around to buying that bed frame.

Liz was not anally neat, but she liked order and she would never be able to live like Maria was. But for some reason, Liz always liked to be at Maria's place. The chaos made it homey and simple. Something Liz was always in the need for.

With the ice cream container in hand, Maria walked over to the mattress and sank down, gesturing for Liz to sit down next to her.

"How long have you known?" Liz asked quietly as Maria shoved two large spoons into the opened ice cream container.

She snorted and shook her head in frank incredulity. "You never really listened to me, did you?"

Liz frowned. "Of course I did."

"Oh, okay," Maria said skeptically. "Then you must remember the times I've hinted that there was more between Max and you than you wanted to tell me. Remember all the times I've told you that Max loves you?"

Liz grabbed one of the spoons and shook her head with a sarcastic huff. "But you never really meant it."

The confidence in her words evaporated as she looked up into Maria's serious face. "Yeah I meant it."

"No. You were just making fun of me."

Maria licked the cookies and cream ice cream off her spoon, her eyes fixed on the ice cream container. "Okay. Maybe it _did_ sound as if I wasn't really serious-"

"Exactly," Liz said with emphasis.

"But that was just because you became so freaking defensive about it every time I brought it up. Seriously, Lizzie, did you really think you could fool me? The more you denied having feelings for him, the more I knew you wanted him. And Max hunting after all those girls?" She smiled brightly, as if she had just figured out the great mystery of life. "Classic. I mean, could he be more translucent?!"

"That doesn't make any sense. Why would he screw around with so many girls if he really wanted me?"

Maria shrugged. "Boys. Face it, Liz. The Y-chromosome makes them stupid." She licked the ice cream off her spoon and added around a mouthful, "Besides, with all that pent up frustration about you in his system, he had to use it up somewhere."

Liz looked at Maria silently for a second before pushing the spoon deep into the ice cream and leaving it buried. She was suddenly feeling a bit nauseous.

Maria grimaced sheepishly. "Sorry. Maybe that didn't come out the way it should've."

"I'm not sure why it bothers me so much-"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Him sleeping with other people? It's not really hard science, Lizzie. You're in love with him. Of course you don't want him sleeping with other girls."

Liz sighed and let her head fall back against the wall with her eyes closed. "Every time he insinuates having sex with someone, my imagination kicks into overdrive. I can't help but…seeing him."

Maria wrinkled her nose in confusion. "Seeing him?"

Liz opened her eyes and looked at her friend with a painful expression. "You know, _seeing him_."

Maria's wrinkle turned into one of awkward disgust. "Oh… you don't mean… oh."

Liz sighed. "Maybe it's because I've been there. If I hadn't, my imagination wouldn't have any facts to feed off-"

"Wait," Maria interrupted. "What did you just say?"

Liz backpedaled to what she had said and a crimson red blush rushed across her cheeks as she realized what she had just unconsciously revealed.

Maria's mouth fell open in stunned shock as she stared at Liz. "Elizabeth Anne Parker. Did something happen between you and Max?"

Liz nodded slowly, biting her lower lip in thoughtful insecurity.

Looking offended, Maria breathed, "If you don't tell me right now-"

"We slept together."

Maria's eyes widened. "Oh. My. God."

"Only once."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"I didn't tell anyone."

"You had sex with Max Evans and you didn't tell anyone about it?!"

Liz smiled momentarily at Maria's stunned disbelief. "It was a mistake."

Maria regarded her like she was crazy. "No it _wasn't_."

"You told me just minutes ago that he sleeps around a lot. Of course it was a mistake. He's not made to be in a long-term meaningful relationship."

Maria looked at her incredulously. "Does that lie help you sleep at night?"

"Maria-"

Maria laughed humorlessly. "I can't believe it. I can't believe I didn't see it. I mean, I know that you had a thing for each other. I know that _you_ were head over heels in love with him and I always knew that Max had a thing for you as well, but I could never even _imagine_ that you at some point actually… God. This is big, Lizzie. How could you hide something like this from me?" Before Liz could answer, Maria shifted on the mattress to face Liz more completely and asked in a tone of pure curiosity. "How was it?"

Liz took a deep breath, feeling a warmth that she had been lacking spread inside of her. _This_ was what she had been missing; being able to talk about her first time.

"I didn't have much to compare to at the time, but-"

Maria frowned, signaling with a firm hand in the air for Liz to stop talking, "Wait. You're not saying that… He deflowered you?"

"Maria!" Liz laughed at Maria's choice of word.

Maria's eyes widened excitedly. "He did! He was your first! Oh shit."

Liz nodded.

"Oh my God," Maria repeated and frowned as she came face to face with the impossibility of that notion. "Hang on. What about Sean? I'm pretty sure you had sex with him."

"Yes, I did," Liz answered, not really sure where Maria was going with this.

"How did Max get before him? When… How long ago was this?"

"Four years."

Maria's face blanched with shock. "_Four years_?! You had sex with Max Evans _four years ago_?"

Liz picked up her spoon from the ice cream and silently nodded.

"Are you stupid?!"

"Hey!" Liz cried out offended.

"You've had this huge pink elephant between you for four years!"

"Yes, Maria," Liz sighed tiredly. "I'm acutely aware of that."

"And he was good?"

"What?"

"He was good in bed?"

"Yeah?" Liz said carefully, wondering if she had sent poor Maria over the brink. Maria was basically hyperventilating.

"Did _he_ like it?"

Liz blushed bright red and dropped her eyes. "I don't know."

"Judging from the way he speaks to you, the way he looks at you… And not to mention how he touches you, I would say he liked it. Liked it a lot."

"What do you mean, 'the way he looks at me'?"

"He's fallen hard, my blind friend. He's utterly in love with you."

Liz swallowed, her throat suddenly feeling dry.

"And you haven't been screwing each other's brains out since, becaaause…?"

Liz rolled her eyes at Maria's choice of words and distractedly dug up another chunk of ice cream. "There was nothing there."

"Bullshit!"

Biting her lips together, Liz felt herself struggling to convince Maria of something that she had quite successfully convinced herself with for several years. "It was just a night of fun-"

"Of course it was fun!" Maria snickered. "It was sex with freaking Max Evans."

"You make it sound like he's a god."

Maria raised an incredulous eyebrow. "Have you forgotten all the girls in high school? All the rumors? All the giggling girls? Are you so much in denial that you don't notice the heads he's turning when he's walking down the freaking street?"

"Believe me, I'm trying really hard not to notice," Liz muttered.

"_That's_ why he's a god."

"And _that's_ exactly why I didn't end up in a relationship with him. You can't have a relationship with a person like that. Have you noticed the size of his ego? Do you really think he would stick to just one person when he could have a new girl every night?"

"That's a bit judgmental," Maria mused, looking at her with amusement. Liz Parker had really gone to great lengths to deny her feelings. "You _do_ realize that he's been screwing with you?"

"He hasn't been-"

"The other girls don't mean anything to him," Maria interrupted. "They were just back-ups when he couldn't have the real thing."

"What makes you so sure?" Liz asked thinly.

Maria smiled warmly. "Because sometimes you have to take a step back to see the whole picture and you, my darling, is far too close to the picture to appreciate it for what it is. So is he."

"Do you think…" Liz hesitated, her hand tightening around the handle of the spoon. "Do you actually think that Max would settle for just one person?"

Maria laughed softly, shaking her head slowly. "Lizzie, you sweet sweet fool. I love you to bits, but it seriously worries me that you don't believe you can tie Max down. He's yours. He's all yours."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because of the way he acts around you."

"You mean; making fun of me, laughing at me…hurting me?"

Maria took a deep breath. "Okay. Do you remember the prom?"

Liz frowned at the lack of connection. "In high school?"

Maria nodded. "Who did you go with?"

"Alex Whitman."

"And who were you supposed to go with?"

"Uhm… Can't remember his name…"

"That guy you thought was cute, who dumped you for some bimbo, right?"

Liz shrugged. "What's your point?"

"And people knew that you were going with this cute guy, correct?"

"Word got around."

"And when did he tell you he wouldn't go with you?"

"The night before."

"Anybody know about that?" Maria asked lightly.

"No. Except Michael. And whoever what's-his-name told."

"Right. So didn't you ever wonder why Alex – timid Alex Whitman – decided to ask a person he thought was already being taken to the prom by another guy, to go with him? Almost like he _knew_ you had been dumped."

"Maria, please, what the hell are you going on about?"

"Max, Lizzie. Max."

"What about him?"

"He knew. Michael told him."

"So?" And then Liz's eyes widened as she realized the connection. Alex was one of Max's friends. He was not a friend of that guy she had a crush on, so Alex couldn't have found out that way. But he could've found out through Max. The only thing she couldn't figure out was, "Why…?"

"Max called Alex, Liz. He asked Alex to take you to the prom because he knew how much you wanted to go. Evans might've taken you himself if he hadn't already asked Tess Harding."

Liz wasn't sure if that piece of information was going to make her feel better or worse. The fact that Alex hadn't asked her out by his own device made her feel like a charity case, but the fact that Max arranged all of that so that she could go to the prom confused her more than anything else.

"But Max was awful at the prom-"

"Because he wasn't with you."

"He was a jerk," Liz said irritated. "He made a fool out of me in front of Alex."

"He was jealous."

"No. He was making me look small and foolish, telling the world that I've been stood up. Why would he do that after he supposedly arranged so that I could go to the prom?" Frustrated, she pulled at her hair. "See! This is what I'm talking about. He runs hot and cold on me. I don't know what he fucking wants!"

"Think about it. It's all a show. He didn't want you to know that he asked Alex to ask you out-"

"Why?"

Ignoring her question, Maria continued, "But he couldn't help being miserable about seeing you with another guy. He had to make sure that you really wouldn't suspect him having anything to do with Alex asking you out, because he didn't want you to feel pitied. And judging from your lack of knowledge on this, I assume he did a good job."

"That's just…" Liz sighed. "Jesus Christ."

And she thought about everything that had happened at that prom. How she and Max had got into an argument about sex and her hinting to him that she was not a virgin, which then had got them into that awkward situation at the cabin, when Max realized that she was in fact sexually naïve.

"Remember Tess Harding?"

Liz grimaced. "How could I forget?"

"Did you know that he broke up with her because of you?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "He didn't."

"Okay, I'm not a 100 percent sure that he broke up with her because of you, but what I _do_ know is that I called him and told him about what a bitch Tess had been to us in the bathroom and that they were broken up the following day."

Liz shrugged. "Doesn't really mean anything. He could have done it for his friends. Because he didn't like his girlfriend treating his friends like that. Maybe he did it for _you_, Maria."

Maria smirked. "Very funny."

Thinking for a while, Maria said, "Okay, what about that time you were really sick? Max wouldn't leave your side. He only did when that stupid boyfriend of yours arrived. But he wouldn't sleep, wouldn't eat, anything! Michael was the same, but he's your brother so I can understand if he's a bit worried. But Max… If you had only been conscious enough to see his face."

"Maybe you're just reading way too much into this."

"What about the time he pulled you out of that hot tub and saved you from getting raped?"

"So maybe he has a tendency to be there to witness some of my more humiliating life choices."

Maria sighed helplessly. "He's your freaking knight in shining armor for Christ's sake. The guy worships the ground you walk on."

"Don't be ridiculous-"

"How can you not see it? It's so obvious!"

"Then why aren't we together?"

Maria rolled her eyes and sighed despondently. "God knows. Because you're both incredibly retarded?"

"Ha ha," Liz said, Maria's words still ringing clear through her head.

Straightened up, Maria looked at Liz suddenly worried, "You didn't tell Mike that you and Max slept together, did you?"

Looking sheepish, Liz avoided Maria's eyes as she answered, "Uhm…"

Maria inhaled deeply. "And where is Max now?"

Liz looked at Maria. "You don't think…?"

"That's exactly what I think," Maria said slowly. "I think you should go and have a chat with Max and let him know that Michael might not be so happy right now and that Max should stay away from him."

"But I asked Michael to not do anything to Max."

"What if Max goes to your apartment? Will Michael be able to restrain himself?"

Michael's angry face flashed before Liz's inner eye and she jumped up from her seat. "I gotta go."

Maria nodded. "Tell Max I said 'hi'."

Liz was too worried to respond as she barged out the door.

Maria flicked her eyes back to the ice cream container and whispered, "Oh boy."

TBC...


	33. Baby Talk

**NOTE:** Just to let you know that this chapter contains more explicit sexual language than I usually use and I'm not sure if I'm crossing into the ADULT category here. So if you are not willing to read more adult-related content, pm me and I'll happily send you a censored version of this chapter. It's properly just a border case but just to be sure I wanted to let you know...

**32. Baby Talk**

The Bed Store  
Saturday morning  
(2011) Max is 26, Liz is 25

"How about this one?"

"No."

"This one?"

"Nah."

"And this one?"

"Just doesn't look right."

"Maax."

"Yes?"

"Could you _please_ pick one?"

"None of them seem right."

"But this one is soft."

"Too soft."

"Too soft? Okay, what about the first one then?"

"That one? Too hard."

Liz sighed. "Come on!"

"You pick one."

"I want us both to like it."

"We can never agree upon anything-"

"Obviously."

"-so why do you insist that we agree on this?"

"Because I plan to spend a lot of time in it. So it needs to be right."

He gave her a smooth smile and snaked an arm around her waist to pull her close. "Isn't it just enough to have me there?"

She arched an incredulous eyebrow. "Do you really want to sleep on the floor?"

"We've done worse."

"Just pick a bed, Evans!" she more or less screamed at him, which tickled his senses into laughter.

She threw her hands up in the air in resignation and turned to walk off, when Max caught her arm and with apologetic laughter encased her in his arms. "I'm sorry. I know I'm not making it easy on you."

She closed her eyes and laid her head against his chest. The sound of his heartbeat against her ear immediately calmed her down. "Can you narrow it down to two at least?"

He kissed the top of her head before looking out over the store, filled with all types of beds. He hated shopping. All types of shopping. And in his arms was, oddly enough, a girl that didn't like shopping. So the two of them were really hopeless in this area. They had put off buying a new bed for months. Their old mattress was so worn down that there were definitive indention after bodies in the foam and the bed frame itself creaked at every movement.

It hadn't bothered them too much until the bed had, during one of their more lively activities that morning, given up and collapsed under the weight of their warm and sweaty bodies.

It hadn't really left them much choice but to make a run to the bed store.

"Yeah… I think so."

Still with her face buried in his chest, her voice was partly muffled as she asked, "Which one goes best with the rest of the room?"

"Uhh…" he grumbled, concentrating hard.

She smiled and curled her hands up the inside of his shirt. "Okay. Which one do I look best naked on?"

"Both," he answered without hesitation.

She grinned. "Good answer."

"Maybe you should make the final call," he said.

She shook her head, running her hands up over his shoulder blades. "I don't want to see any more beds. Ever."

"Really? That kinda ruins a lot of our spare time activities," Max mumbled.

"Hmm…Maybe we should just buy a mattress. That way we won't have to be afraid of breaking anything when…you know."

"I'm not totally against that idea," Max mused. "Maybe if-"

They both jumped as the loud jingle on Max's phone tore through the air and Liz pulled his hips closer so that she could get his phone out of his back pocket. He almost groaned as her fingers fumbled around to get the thing up from his jeans and he whispered, "God, you're so good at that."

She winked at him, "Behave," and dropped the phone into his hand.

"You started it," he said and flipped the lid open. "Speak."

"She's… She's…It's happening."

"Michael?"

Liz looked at Max oddly as he frowned and she mouthed a curious 'What?' to him.

"There's…uh… The water…and then. Shit. What should I do?"

Max was starting to get worried about Michael's agitated voice and he automatically grabbed a hold of Liz's hand. "Mike, what happened?"

Liz rose on her toes to lean up and try to catch any of the words from the other end of the phone line.

"I think she packed her bag. Yes, yes. She told me that she did. And then… She just wanted me to call you and tell you."

"Tell me what?" Max asked, completely confused, but the only answer he got was the dial tone as Michael disconnected the call.

Max held the phone away from his ear and stared at Liz. "What the hell?"

"Was that my brother?" Liz wondered.

"He was going on about something, but I haven't got the faintest clue as to what."

Just then the phone rang again and after a quick glance at the ID caller, Max handed the phone over to Liz. There was no way he was talking to that confused guy again. He was freaking Max out.

"Mike?" Liz spoke into the phone.

"Liz, hey," Maria's voice answered.

"Maria? Is everything okay? We just got the most cryptic phone call from Mike."

"He's an idiot. I'm having the baby. That's what the doofus was trying to say, but he can't even do that right."

"You're…what?" A smile spread across Liz's face and she met Max's eyes. "You're having the baby?"

"She's having the baby?" Max asked and Liz nodded while putting a finger to her lips to silence him.

"Could you come to the hospital? I- Shit. Michael?!"

Liz quickly pulled the phone away from her ear as Maria screamed.

"Uhm…I think I have to go, Liz. It looks like – MICHAEL!" Liz pulled the phone away from her ear again. "Okay, Michael is just about to drive off to the hospital without me. I have to go."

In a slight daze, Liz slowly handed the phone back to Max. "I guess she's having the baby."

"We should go."

"Yeah," Liz said and neither of them was really disappointed that they were interrupted in the midst of their bed purchasing dilemma.

--

**The hospital  
Fourteen hours later**

Liz looked down at the miniature person in her arms. Some people say that all babies look the same, but she could swear that she could see so much of Maria in the little newborn already that it was almost eerie.

She smiled as arms enveloped her waist from behind and a warm breath caressed the side of her neck before a soft kiss was placed against her skin. "So…what do you think?"

"About what?" she asked and stroked the chubby cheek of the little girl.

"Would you like one of those?"

They had decided to wait. With Max just starting college, something he had put off before, and Liz still working part-time while searching for a better job, they had both agreed that starting a family yet wasn't a good idea.

But things change.

"Yes. Yes, I would."

His arms tightened around her waist and he kissed her temple before resting his chin on her shoulder and looking down at the small life Michael and Maria had created.

"Okay. Let's do it."

"You sure?"

"I would love to have a baby with you."

With the sound of Maria's screams of pain fresh in her memory, Liz asked, "Would you mind giving birth to it to? Because I don't really feel like doing that part."

He chuckled softly and placed a kiss in the crook of her neck. "If I could I would."

Not believing him for a second, she said, "No, you wouldn't."

"Of course I would."

"Even if you would, the pain would kill you," she breathed dramatically.

"Hey, I'm a tough guy, okay," Max said defensively and as if to prove this fact his arms tightened even further around her waist.

"Remember when you had appendicitis? You almost died."

"That's because that thing _can_ actually kill you."

"Maria also had appendicitis. She was walking around with that pain for longer than you and she handled it so much better."

"Fine," Max grumbled, "I guess women are biologically better equipped to deal with pain. Which is why you should do the birthing bit."

"Not fair," she whispered, tracing her niece's small fingernails.

"But I'll gladly help you make the baby," Max said cheerily.

"That's very generous of you," Liz said slowly, her voice too soft to be sarcastic because she was at the moment fascinated with how her niece was curling her miniscule fingers around Liz's index finger.

"She's beautiful," Max whispered.

"Yeah," Liz said softly, "She really is."

--

**Their Apartment  
Two hours later**

"I'm gonna take a shower," Liz called out as they stepped through the front door.

She pulled off her scarf, mittens and beanie on the way to the bathroom, and threw the thick winter jacket just at the entrance to the bathroom. She shivered as she hurried to take off her clothes, the wind biting her skin as more article of clothing were removed.

"So freaking cold," she mumbled as she reached into the shower and turned on the tap so that the water could heat up before she stepped in.

She unclasped her bra and stepped out of her panties. Collecting her hair at the top of her head in a loose bun, she reached into the water stream to check that the water had warmed up. Happy with the almost scalding temperature, she stepped into the stream and exhaled in relief as the hot water started to heat up her freezing body.

She was so lost in the relaxing beauty that was a warm shower that she didn't notice Max entering the bathroom, observe her quietly for about a minute and then silently remove his own clothes.

She gasped, the scream stuck in her throat, as his comparatively cold body spooned around her back. "You scared me."

"You looked lonely," Max breathed against her ear as she felt his arousal press into the small of her back and his hands started wandering leisurely across her front.

"Did I?" she whispered, her breathing becoming shallower as his hands cupped her breasts.

"Uh-huh," he answered.

"In that case, I'm glad you decided to rescue me from my loneliness."

"Any time," Max whispered and ran his tongue along the rim of her ear, making her tremble in his arms.

"I thought you were making dinner."

"It's in the oven," he answered and quickly spun her around, pushing a startled gasp out of her. Producing one of his charming crooked smiles, he said softly, "Hey."

She smiled at him and stopped breathing for a second as he pushed her back into the cold tiled wall. "Hey yourself."

"I thought we needed some practice."

She watched the water run in multiple small rivulets down his toned front, smoothly tracing the strongly demarcated lines of his chest.

"Practice in what?"

He captured her lips and kissed her thoroughly, his hands drifting down her sides. His mouth left her lips and made its way down her throat, sucking the water off her skin as he traveled.

"Making Babies 101," he answered, his teeth grazing over her jugular.

She arched her neck and her hands slid down his chest. Her voice was breathless as she said, "I thought you aced that."

His hands reached the top of her hips and cupping his hands around her cheeks he lifted her upwards, guiding her to fold her legs around his waist. Her nether body started to slowly slide up and down his well-defined abdominal muscles as his tongue encircled her breast. He licked up the mound of her breast and reached her collarbone, stopping long enough to smile up at her. "Never produced any babies."

"Uh-huh," she mumbled and bit her lower lip in concentration as his fingers grazed her inner thigh. "But that was due to preventative measures, not necessarily technique."

He laughed softly, causing her to open her eyes and look at him. "How can you construct a sentence like that in a moment like this?"

She smiled and answered ruefully, "I'm very intelligent."

His fingers brushed against her bundle of nerves and she gasped. "How about now?"

"Uhm…" she mumbled, her tongue moving out to wet her lips.

With his thumb on her clitoris, moving in slow circles, his finger separated her lips and entered her.

She inhaled sharply and her soft moan echoed around them. "Definitely nothing wrong with your technique."

He trapped her upper lip between his lips and gently tugged on it. "So I'm passing the practical?"

"Definitely," she answered.

He smiled against her lips and mumbled, "That's a relief."

She laughed softly and said skeptically, "Yeah, because I'm sure you were oh so worried about that."

Her head fell back against the tiled wall with a groan as his fingers inside of her moved faster and his lips grazed her cheek as he leaned in to whisper, "I've spent many sleepless nights agonizing over that fact."

"I always thought your insomnia was due to your nocturnal activities, not concern about performance," she murmured, her voice strained as her body got closer to release.

"Let go, kitten," his husky voice whispered and she let the climax envelop her and send her drifting while Max slowly removed his fingers and held her tight. Slowly, he took a step back, putting them both in the stream of water.

She rested her forehead against his as her arms were loosely positioned across his shoulders and he occasionally placed kisses on her cheeks, nose, and eyelids.

It never took her long to recover and wanting more. Maybe it was the pressure of his hard warm body against hers. Maybe it was his random kisses. Or maybe even the way the tips of his fingers would slowly run up and down her back. But it always had the same outcome.

Her wanting more.

"Just a tip," she mumbled and kissed him languidly.

"What's that, Parker?" he asked, his hungry eyes caressing the blush of her cheeks and the fullness of her lips.

"What you just did…"

He smiled and when she didn't continue, he prompted, "Yes?"

"Even though it was…" she looked to the ceiling and sighed dreamily, "…pretty good…" which had Max grinning and positioning her pressed up against the wall again, "…I'm pretty sure _that_ doesn't really make any babies."

A breath hitched in her throat as he pressed against her entrance and asked amused, "Really?"

She bit her lower lip and slowly shook her head, her wet hair sliding against the tiles. "Nope."

He entered her slightly, which had a tremble of wavering self-discipline move through his entire body and her breasts to press into his chest as she arched at the subtle contact.

"So…what do you suggest?" he asked breathlessly and pulled out of her again.

Her heavy eyelids moved upwards and she looked at him with something akin to impatience in her brown eyes. "That you stop talking-" she directed him back to her entrance, "- and score this test."

He pushed into her hard which had a soft exclamation whisper out of her mouth and said, "Oh, I'll ace this one."

"I really hope- " she gasped as he increased his pace inside of her, his hands moving over her breasts as his body pressed against hers kept her positioned against the slippery wall, "-that your performance can measure up to your words."

"Have I ever let you down?" he asked in a strained breathless voice.

"Not yet," she smiled at him and they both fell silent as their concentration focused on the sensations created by their bodies moving together.

As they their bodies rushed towards completion and cries sated with pleasure ripped from their bodies, Max's legs gave out from underneath him and they sank to the floor together.

He was still inside of her as she smiled contentedly at him and lovingly feathered her fingers across his warm forehead.

His soft voice broke through the constant sound of the water, "So? Did I pass?"

She slowly licked her lips as her index finger traveled down to his lips and he kissed the tip of her investigating finger.

"A," she answered.

He smiled in that self-confident way that might've made other men appear arrogant but only spread a pure masculine sexual shine over Max's face and had Liz shivering with fresh desire.

But as soon as the smile had moved across his face it was replaced by a worried frown. "Wait. Does this mean that we don't have to practice anymore?"

She stifled a laugh at his poor attempt of acting and instead smiled at him sweetly. "Well…you passed with flying colors… So is there really any need to keep this going?"

His eyes twinkled before his wet hair brushed her chin as he bent his head down to place a kiss over her heart. "If you don't practice, you're gonna forget the skill."

She smiled absent-mindedly, her fingers slowly running through the wet strands of his hair. "Max? Are you sure about this?"

Picking up on the serious note to her voice, he looked up at her which had her smiling at him slightly sheepishly while awaiting his answer.

"About having a baby?" he wondered.

She nodded silently, looking at him worriedly.

"Parker," he said as seriously as she looked, "I want to create a family with you."

"It's not too soon?" she asked.

He shrugged, "Who's to decide? But if you want to wait-"

She shook her head. "No. No. That's not what I mean. I just…"

"What, love?"

"Don't you want to be a kid for a bit longer, you know? A baby…" she sighed, "It's a lot of responsibility and we're not gonna be alone again for like 18 years – _minimum_."

He frowned and cradled her cheek with his hand. "Lizzie, if you don't want to do this-"

"No, Max. I _do_. I would love to have a child with you. I've wanted it ever since Maria got pregnant because she got me thinking about it, you know." She looked at him, pleading for him to not misunderstand her. "It's just… I don't want _you_ to feel like you _have to_ have a child right now. I can wait. If you wanna wait, I'll wait with you. I don't want you to sit here in five years time thinking that you missed out on things just because you started a family too soon."

"Wait," he frowned, "Do you think I'm gonna leave?"

She hesitated long enough for him to see the truth, before the denial reached her lips. "No, of course not."

"That's it, isn't it? You think I'm gonna get fed up with being a dad and I'm gonna leave you here alone."

He pulled away from her and stood up, her sad eyes following his ascent from the floor of the shower stall.

"Christ, Lizzie," he muttered, pushing his fingers through his hair. "Why would I leave you? Do you think I'm gonna leave you to have fun? To lead a bachelor life or something?"

Squeezing her lips together she got to her feet and said, "That's why I'm asking. I need to know that you're fully committed to this, because I don't want you to look back at your life later and resent it. Resent _me_ for wanting to have a baby."

He looked at her, disappointed that on some level she still thought that he would leave. At the back of his head, he knew that it stemmed from her deeply rooted fear of people walking out on her in her past, but as the hurt of her words stung his body he couldn't help but feel that she still didn't trust him.

"Please, Max," she whispered, tears glittering in her eyes. "Say something."

"Do you trust me?" he asked simply, his jaw clenched.

"Yes," she answered and looked at him oddly. "Of course I do." How could he even question that?

He dropped his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Okay."

She placed her hand on his arm and looked at him worriedly, "I _do_ trust you. This isn't about trust-"

His eyes connected with hers interrupted her, "Yes, it is." He pressed his lips tightly together and looked to the side, his hands fisting at his sides as he tried to come up with the right words. "Because if you trusted me you would know that I could never do that to you. I would never just leave you."

Irritation flashing through her, she said, "Come on. It doesn't have anything to do with trust. I could trust you all I want, but if you wanna leave, you're gonna leave."

"Trusting me is about trusting my character," Max said. "And if you know me at all, you know I won't do that. Because I'm committed to _you_, kitten. Only you. And I'm not saying that I want a child just because you want one. I started thinking about having babies with you a long time ago-"

She looked at him in surprise but he continued before she could say anything, "-but for the longest time I wouldn't let myself believe that it would ever happen. Because you were always so angry with me."

"You were thinking about having children with me before we got together?" Liz asked surprised.

"Yes, silly," Max said, his voice softening. "I've been ready for a long time. That bachelor life that you're talking about? It's not so great. I had to live it for longer than I really wanted, but you saved me from it and if I have a say in it I will never go back." He looked at her seriously. "I want to be with you, Liz. There's probably gonna be some bumps in the road, but we'll just have to figure it out as we go."

"So you really want a baby?" Liz asked quietly.

He sighed and looked at her almost impatiently. "Yes, my beautiful fool."

"Okay," she whispered, a tentative smile brushing across her lips.

He reached over and turned off the water, while reaching outside of the stall with his other hand to grab a large towel. Wrapping it around both of them, he nestled her body against his as he rested his cheek on top of her cheek.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I had to ask. It's not that I'm questioning you, I just wanted to make sure."

"I know," he answered, tightening the towel around them. "And I love you for it."

"What time is it?" she murmured, his heartbeat loud in her ear as she pressed the side of her face against his chest.

She heard his heart rate pick up even before he answered. "Shit! I have food in the oven!"

He quickly kissed her on the forehead, untangled himself from the towel and wrapped her up in it before throwing a second towel around his hips. "See you out there!"

She smiled as he made a hasty departure, a laugh easing the tension in her chest as she heard his profanities drift into the bathroom as the opened bathroom door let the smoke from overcooked food into the room.

Biting her lower lip in contemplation she let the towel fall to the floor and looked down at her flat abdomen. A smile slowly started to form on her lips as she moved her fingers across her stomach.

Taking a deep breath, she bent down and retrieved the towel. Wrapping it firmly around herself to fight off the coldness of the rooms, she walked out to see what they were actually going to be eating for dinner.

TBC...


	34. Because of You

So some time back (just shortly after I had written below chapter), I was watching "10 things I hate about you" and the poem in that movie reminded me of the relationship I've been painting with Max and Liz in this story. And I thought it would be nice to include it at the beginning of this chapter. You can search for the poem on youtube if you want to see the clip.

**33. Because of You**

Max's Apartment  
Late Monday  
(2008) Max is 23, Liz is 22

_I hate the way you talk to me,  
and the way you cut your hair._

I hate the way you drive my car.  
I hate it when you stare.

I hate your big dumb combat boots,  
and the way you read my mind.

I hate you so much it makes me sick;  
it even makes me rhyme.

I hate the way you're always right.  
I hate it when you lie.

I hate it when you make me laugh,  
even worse when you make me cry.

I hate it when you're not around,  
and the fact that you didn't call.

But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you.

Not even close,  
not even a little bit,  
not even at all.

Max opened the door and to his surprise found Liz on the other side.

She looked up at him, with an attempted smile slightly pulling at the corners of her mouth, and said seriously, "Hey."

She had never been to his apartment alone. She had in fact only been at his place twice. Once for the house warming party and once to pick him up when Michael, she and Max were going rock climbing.

Both times in Michael's company.

"Liz," he stated slowly, the shock at her presence softening his voice.

His eyes fell on her pale face, porcelain even in the grey of the dark hallway, and were drawn to the shine of her large eyes.

"Do you want to come in?"

She nodded. "Okay."

She was lacking her normal air of defensiveness as she slowly walked past him into the modestly lit apartment and Max slowly closed the front door behind her.

"What's up?"

She had stopped in the middle of the TV-room, which co-functioned as eating area and kitchen, looking incredibly small as she squeezed her arms tightly around her waist while her eyes scanned the surroundings.

"I know it's weird for me to come here-"

"It's fine," Max interrupted and noticed the tremble that went through her even though she was standing several feet from him. "Are you okay?"

She turned and looked at him, for the first time since she had stepped into the apartment, and opened her mouth to respond but fell silent as her eyes fell upon his face. The face that had before been hidden in the shadows but that she could now see perfectly clearly in the light from the nearby lamp.

"Oh my God," she gasped and stepped up to him.

Before he had time to step back, her fingers were lightly grazing the purple area that was starting to form over his chin.

"It's fine," he said quietly, holding his breath under her ministrations.

"It's not fine," Liz said angrily. "God, Max. You need ice on that."

As if he was a disobedient child, she sighed and walked past him into the small kitchen area. "Do you have any frozen peas?"

He turned and watched her rip the door to the freezer open. "I hate peas."

"What do you eat?" Liz asked as she stared at the empty freezer.

Max shrugged and leaned against the back of the couch. "Pizzas."

"Gross," Liz mumbled and started to pull out drawer after drawer in the kitchen, filling the room with clinking cutlery.

"You might want to keep it down," Max yelled at her over the noise. "I have neighbors that like to sleep at this hour."

"Do you have a spatula?"

He rolled his eyes, walked up to her and took a hold of her elbow to stop her from continuing to run her hand through the contents of the drawer. Silence enveloped them again. "Do I look like I own a spatula?"

"You're completely useless, do you know that?" Liz murmured and pulled her arm free of his grip.

"What do you need it for?" he asked.

"Ice. I need to break off ice." She glanced at his face and he imagined he could see concern flash in her eyes, and then she was back to searching the drawers. "We need to get that swelling down."

She pulled out something that kind of looked like a spatula and with a grumbled, "You'll do," she started hacking away at the frozen ice covering the walls of the freezer. Fortunately, Max didn't defrost his freezer either.

"Kitten, calm down," Max said as she attacked the ice like it was her worst enemy. He took the spatula-thingy out of her hand and pushed her slightly to the side. "I'll do that."

She took a step back and looked at him with sad eyes. "It was Michael, wasn't it? He hit you."

"It doesn't matter," Max answered, his focus on the ice.

"I told him."

Max stopped and put the tool in the sink. Without looking at her he pulled out a plastic bag and started to load it up with ice. "Yeah, I kinda figured."

"That's why I came over. To warn you. But I guess I'm a bit too late."

He turned around and pressed the homemade ice bag to his lower face. "It would've happened sooner or later."

She shook her head in disapproval. "You're doing it wrong."

He frowned. "Doing what wrong?"

She rolled her eyes and took a hold of his free hand, ignoring the tremble that went through her at the feel of his warm skin against hers, and pulled him towards the couch. "Sit down!"

He smiled ruefully at her command and sank down into the couch. But before he could verbally comment on it she kneeled into the couch, her body close to his as she leaned slightly across him to take a hold of the ice bag and rearrange it on his face.

His eyes dragged across her smooth skin and he reveled in that he for once could watch her without her turning her face away. Her complete attention was on the ice bag and getting it in the right spot across his chin.

Put she couldn't get it right. The bag kept moving ever so slightly back and forth and he frowned, taking a hold of her underarm. At the touch of her skin, he could feel the vibrations moving through her arms.

"Why are you trembling?" he asked quietly.

She looked at him, first now realizing how close she was to him. She swallowed, guilt spreading across her chocolate orbs. "Because you're hurt."

He felt his heart skip a beat. She was concerned about him?

He almost smiled at her, wondering if she was pulling his leg. "It's okay. It's just a bruise. I'll be fine."

She bit her lower lip and dropped her eyes. "But it's my fault."

He took a hold of the ice bag as she pulled away and said gently, "Hey, it was both of us, okay? You're not alone in this. And he's your brother. You had to tell him eventually."

She looked up at him with glistening eyes and said sadly, "But I ruined it, didn't I? He hates you now. I mean, he hit you."

He put the ice bag down and smiled at her softly. "We'll get over it. The guy just found out that I had sex with his baby sister, of course he's gonna hate me. But he'll get over it."

She nodded slowly, really wanting to believe him.

"Why are you here?" Max asked then, looking at her closely.

She looked up at him, familiar defensiveness roaring its ugly head in her eyes. "I told you. I needed to-"

He turned in the couch to face her completely, an action that cut off her words and she looked at him like a scared animal.

"No, Lizzie. Why are you here?"

"To prevent this from happening," she said, insecurity making her voice tremble. She wasn't used to this quiet Max. She wasn't really sure how to react. Why was he not retaliating with a joke or a sexist comment like he usually did?

"Okay," he said, fear coursing heatedly through his veins as he took a deep breath. Here goes nothing. "Is everything okay? Do you need to talk?"

She stared at him in fearful confusion, her eyes gradually becoming wetter with every second, and she stammered, "What- I don't know what-"

"I don't mean to hurt you. It's just that you…You make me so angry."

A silent tear tumbled over her lower eyelid and rolled down her cheek as she swallowed. "I know… I know that."

He shook his head, his fingers itching to pull her towards him and comfort her, but he had a feeling she wasn't prepared for that yet. "I don't think you do. _I_ didn't even get what I was doing until Serena pointed it out to me-"

"Serena?" Her voice lacked strength and she was on the border of whispering.

"And I don't know why I feel the need to push my sex life in your face."

Another tear fell down her cheek and her bottom lip trembled as she continued to stare at him.

"Half of it is not even true. It's just… You make me feel like I need to prove something to you. Prove that I'm worthy of you. So that you will take me back."

His voice wavered as he laid his heart in front of her. Knowing how she had reacted to that before, the fear of having her stab his unprotected heart again made him hold his breath in fear.

But she just stared at him, with no words to give him. Her heart was pounding in her ears and it was like he was speaking a foreign language because she didn't understand what he was telling her.

He thought _he_ wasn't worthy of _her_?

What?

"And I guess the only way I can do that is to show you that other girls want me. That I'm…lovable."

She trembled with anxiety at the vulnerability in his voice, knowing with terrifying accuracy that she could easily break him right now if she said the wrong thing.

"What are you saying?" she whispered.

He took a deep breath. "I'm saying that I'm in love with you. I love you, Parker. Did you even know that?"

Tears tumbled down her cheek and she automatically wiped the tears off with the back of her hand, her eyes remaining locked on his face. "Why are you doing this?"

Feeling the instinctive need to pull back into his shell and lash back at her like he normally would, he tried to calm himself down by taking another deep breath. "This is not a game, Liz. This is real. This is me. This is me wondering if you even like me at all. Because I've had these agonizing feelings for you for a long time and I want it to stop. I need to know. I need to know why you hate me so much."

She dropped her head and sobbed. "I don't hate you."

"Then why do you push me away?"

She looked up at him with fire in her eyes and bit out, "Because I don't want you to run away."

He looked at her, suddenly not understanding her at all. "That makes no sense whatsoever."

"No?" she yelled out, her voice dripping with tears and she rose from the couch. "Then what about all the one-night-stands? What about all the girls whose name you can't remember? What about the fact that you find sex fun and you use girls just to get off and then throw them out? What about the fact that you took Tess' side over mine, even though you've known me longer? What about the fact that you had sex with me just because you were drunk and you needed to _have fun_ and my virginity screwed it up for you?"

He stood up, looking at her heatedly. "That's not the whole truth-"

"How am I supposed to trust you, huh?" she sobbed. "How am I supposed to believe that you would ever want me? Plain little flat-chested Lizzie with an awful personality? Just think about it. What fucking chance do I have to keep you interested? Sure, we might have some fun. It might be good sex, but then you will grow tired of me and you will…" her breath hitched as a sob wrenched through her "…then you will leave. And I'll have nothing. At least now I have you, even though it's not all of you. At least you're still here."

His heart broke and he whispered agonized, "Lizzie…"

"You don't love me, Max. You can't love me. I'm completely fucked up. There's nothing to love. I can't offer you anything. I tried to give you my body once, but I was so afraid afterwards that you would ridicule or degrade the whole thing that I had to leave first. I had to hurt you first."

"That was the best night of my life," Max said and watched her eyes widen. "And the worst. Because it completely ruined everything between us and I didn't even know why, because you wouldn't talk to me anymore. I was so worried that I had hurt you. Physically, mentally, whatever way possible. But you wouldn't even tell me that. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't get you out of my system. I tried. God knows I tried. I hooked up with all of these different girls, but I could never go through with it. Because it wasn't you."

She stared at him in shock. "Are you saying that-"

"You're the last girl I've been with, kitten. There hasn't been a single girl since."

Her mouth felt dry. "You're lying."

He almost laughed. "I have nothing left to lie about. I'm telling you the truth, Liz. What would I get out of telling you that I haven't had sex for four years?"

She shook her head. "I don't understand."

"Do you have any idea how much you mean to me? How I would kill anyone that would dare to cause you any harm? That I wanted to wring Sean's neck after how he treated you? Do you have any idea how much I love arguing with you? How much I love watching you explode over the tiniest thing? How much I hate when you cry and love you when you laugh? Do you have any idea how beautiful you are to me? How I could never get tired of you. How I freaking need you every second of the day? How I dream of making love to you – again and again?"

"Stop it," she said weakly, sinking to the floor, tears flowing freely down her face.

He kneeled in front of her. "I won't stop until you get it."

"I get it," she whispered, afraid of the intensity in his voice and of what his words meant.

He shook his head. "No, you don't get it. Because then you would've known how happy I was that night and how I wanted you to stay with me. Forever. Instead you left, because you thought I didn't want you?"

There was disbelief in his voice as he looked at her closely, aching to kiss her because she looked so cold and he wanted her to feel his warmth.

"Mike will never allow it…" Liz tried and watched Max's eyes darken with an emotion she was more familiar with. Anger.

"Don't hide behind him. He's just your brother. He can't decide what you want. This is _your_ life. _You_ have to live it. What do _you_ feel?"

She dropped her head and pulled her legs up against her chest, pressing her face against her knees and trying to make herself as small as possible. "I can't do this."

He threaded his hand through her dark hair and felt her stiffen beneath his touch, her sniffles silencing. "Please, let me in."

"I loved you that night," she whispered and looked up at him with red-brimmed eyes and wet cheeks. "You were so gentle… You took care of me. In a way I never thought possible." She took a deep breath and brushed the hem of the arm of her sweater across her face. "It was easy to love you. It's always been easy to love you. The difficult part was pushing you away."

He swallowed back the hurt and asked her quietly, "Then why did you do it?"

"I didn't want you to see me. I didn't want you to discover how scared I am. How ugly I am on the inside. Because it would scare you away." She sniffled and averted her eyes. "And I would be alone. Again."

"I made a promise to you once, do you remember?" he said softly.

She nodded and sniffled.

"I always keep my promises."

"You're in love with something that isn't real," she said slowly. "You're in love with this angry girl that meets your every word with a witty retaliation. You don't know me. No one does."

"That angry girl is a part of you as well. And don't give yourself too much credit. You're not _that_ good at hiding that scared girl inside."

"Why would you even like her?"

He cradled her face in his hand and said gently, "I don't know. I just do."

It all felt unreal. She would never in her wildest dream be able to conjure up a conversation like this. But maybe she just had. And maybe she would wake up any second and realize that Max still didn't love her and they would go back to arguing the next time she met him.

"Is this a dream?" she whispered.

"Stay here," he said.

She blinked. "What?"

"Stay with me tonight."

"Max, I-"

He smiled at her, a hint of mischief twinkling in his eyes, "I won't take advantage of you." His eyes turned somber and the flat of his thumb brushed at the wetness on her cheek. "I want you here tonight."

She licked her lips as she hesitated. "And what about tomorrow?"

"Yeah, then too," he answered and felt himself warm as a small smile grazed her lips.

"I need to hear you say it again," she whispered, almost tentatively.

"Hear what, kitten?"

"That you don't hate me."

He shook his head in disbelief and framed her face between his hands. Making sure that she didn't have any objections to what he was about to do, he pulled her closer and softly kissed her lips. He could taste the saltiness of her new tears on her lips before he pulled back.

"I love you." He kissed her again. "I want you." He nipped at her lips. "I need you." He slowly traced her upper lip with the tip of his tongue. "Stay."

She opened her eyes slowly as he pulled away and felt a flutter of warm relief in the center of her chest. "Okay."

TBC...


	35. A Spoonful of Sugar

Melissa and Rose; Thank you so much for the feedback!!

This is the consecutive chapter to the previous one. For once...

They talk it out...

**34. A Spoonful of Sugar**

Max's Apartment  
Late Monday night – Early Tuesday morning  
(2008) Max is 23, Liz is 22

"Did you have feelings for me when you kissed me in that closet?"

"Ryan Anderson's party?"

"Yeah."

He pondered this for a second before he answered. "I don't know." He cast a glance in her direction before continuing, "I think you kinda snuck up on me then."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"When it started, when they put us in that closet together, I saw it as a game-"

"Yeah, I could tell," she murmured, remembering the incident very well. How he taunted and smirked in between puffing out his chest to proudly signal how much experience he had and how little she had.

"But it was different-"

She looked over at him, the word 'different' not sounding too good to her ears at that moment. "Different?"

"Kissing you…" he halted, feeling almost stupid to voice it because it sounded ridiculous even in his own head, "Kissing you was different-"

"Yeah, you told me so," Liz interrupted, a dark nuance to her voice.

He looked over at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"You told me that it felt like kissing a fish."

Before he could stop himself, laughter exploded across his lips.

"Hey!" she cried out in mild protest.

"Sorry," he said, struggling to get his laughter under control. "I can't believe I actually said that."

"Yeah, you and me both."

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. God, I was such an idiot back then."

"Thank you," Liz said with emphasis.

"It's amazing that I still managed to get all those girls to have sex with me-"

He laughed as a pillow came flying through the air, hitting him straight in the face. "Shut up!"

He held his hands up in peace offering gesture. "Kidding!"

"How many girls were there really?" Liz asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer, but her mind had already spoken for her before her bruised heart had anything to say about it.

He grimaced and looked over at her face partly hidden in the shadows. "You really want to know?"

"No," she answered without hesitation. "But yes."

"Ookay…" How could he put this the right way? "There weren't as many as I let you believe-"

"God, I hope not," Liz whispered and he smiled.

"I've _kissed_ a lot of girls-"

Liz swallowed. Why had she asked about this again? "Right."

"But I haven't gone the whole way with that many."

"How about before we…you know," Liz said softly and something felt warm in his chest at the shyness with which she treated their night together. "Since you said you hadn't really had sex with anyone after that. You must've been a playboy before then. It couldn't all be an act. I heard girls talking about you-"

Max's eyebrows rose in interest. "Really? What did they say about me?"

"Shut up," Liz said simply and Max grinned in the semi-darkness of the room. "Some conversations had details that I really didn't want to know about."

"Jesus Liz," Max sighed. "This is worst than being in therapy. Do you really want to know all of this?"

"I need to know how much of it was a lie," she answered.

Her words stung, because it reminded him of how much they had been hurting each other over the years.

"I killed your rabbit," Max breathed out quickly.

Liz straightened. "_What?_"

"Sorry," Max said. "I just really needed to say that."

"You killed my rabbit?" Liz repeated, not sure if she should yell at him, cry or laugh.

"I meant to give it some food and my shirt got stuck in the hatch so I couldn't close it and then the neighbor's cat happened to walk by just then and he spotted the rabbit," Max rattled off quickly, "The rabbit spotted him and decided to hop out through the hatch. I'm telling you, I never knew how quick rabbits were. I was just about to catch it with my free hand when he rushes off like this Mighty Rabbit or something and the cat is after him. They just disappeared."

"I searched for days," Liz mumbled.

"I'm really sorry," Max said softly. "I meant to tell you-"

"But?"

"But I knew how much that rabbit meant to you and I was so afraid you were gonna cry."

"You didn't tell me because I might've cried?" she asked incredulously.

"I hate it when you cry," he whispered. "It makes me want to kill myself."

Her voice was softer and warmer when she said, "All these years I thought I had raised a super-intelligent rabbit that could open hatches."

Max chuckled. "You really believed that?"

"How else would you explain it? Everyone said they didn't have anything to do with it. That was the only explanation…Except you of course. I always suspected you."

He looked at her surprised. "I thought I hid it pretty well."

She shrugged. "It was just by default. Whenever something bad happened to me, I instantaneously blamed you."

"Thanks for the trust," he said thinly.

She smiled at him. "You're welcome. And the girls? What about the girls?"

"Still not letting go, are you? What about your guys?"

"You know about all my guys."

"I'm sure you had some behind the scenes."

"Yeah right," she huffed.

"Come on, Parker," he grinned, sliding down from his position on the couch to the floor where she was sitting, coming down to her level. Her eyes followed his movements intently. His voice was tantalizing as he continued, "Who could resist you?"

"Let's just put it this way; Growing up with you kinda put me off guys."

"Ouch," he chuckled.

She gave him a sugar sweet smile. "And I mean that in the nicest way possible."

He watched her eyes wander in hesitation and he patiently waited to see what she was about to do. Taking a deep breath, she reached out with her hand and stretched across the small distance between them to catch his hand. They both watched as their fingers interlaced, two heartbeats racing at the small warm contact.

"But I can't give you all the credit," she said, keeping her voice impressively casual with the emotions raging in side of her. But she'd had years of practice at hiding her emotions.

"No?" he asked, still looking at their intertwined hands.

"There was also that idiot Billy. Brad Matthews. And my favorite; Stalker Sean."

"Yeah, he was great," Max said cheerily and added with great joyful sarcasm. "I _adored_ that guy."

Liz nodded as if in contemplation. "Yeah, he really was great, wasn't he?" She let out a dreamy sigh and added, "And what a kisser. God…"

Max's mood instantly darkened and he murmured, "Don't really need to know that."

Her hand squeezed his as she smiled at him comfortingly, "Just kidding. He sucked. He really really sucked."

Max took a deep breath and a large goofy smile spread across his face. "Ahh. That makes me feel so much better."

"I bet it does," she said, her eyes drifting to his lips. His lips had always seemed sensual to her. Like they were made just for kissing. Suddenly she was overcome with the urge to kiss him. His voice pulled her out of her lip fantasies.

"You really scared me that day."

His voice was so serious that her heart missed a beat as it clenched in her chest. "What day?"

"When he cheated on you."

The day the world had crashed around her.

She scooted closer to him, the memory making her feel cold. "That was kinda bad."

He looked at her closely and asked quietly, "Why did it upset you so much?" The second the words left his mouth, he realized how insensitive they might appear, "I mean, of course it must hurt to be cheated on, but I always had the feeling that you didn't really care that much about him. Especially not after our conversation when you were sick."

She opened her mouth to reply, when her mind registered his last words and her mind changed tracks with a frown, "What conversation?"

"You probably don't remember," he said. "You were too sick."

"What did I say?" she whispered. It was an odd type of fear knowing that she'd had a conversation with him that she couldn't even remember.

"That Sean was safe," Max answered. "That you had left that night, after we made love," his heart fluttered as her soft gasp broke the surrounding darkness at him calling their night together an act of love, "because I could hurt you."

She bit her lower lip in hesitation. "What else have I been telling you that I don't know of?"

"That was the gist of it," he replied.

"You must have known," Liz whispered. "You must have known how I felt about you already then." She huffed in disbelief. "I basically spelled it out for you."

"I certainly suspected it," Max answered, "But I never dared to believe." He smiled in an attempt to take the edge off what he was about to say, "You could hurt me too, you know."

"I see that now," she said slowly. "I didn't then."

"Was it right then? That you didn't really care for him?"

"I did," she whispered, the memory still painful but it wasn't as painful as to see Max drop his eyes away from hers at her admission.

She squeezed his hand. "But never like I did for you."

Taking a deep breath, but still not looking at her, he asked, "Then why did you stay with him?"

"I guess I already told you that; Because he was safe. And that's why it hurt so much."

He looked up at her in confusion and she realized that she had to explain it a bit more, "He wasn't supposed to hurt me. I wasn't supposed to care for him. No strings attached, while pretending that they were very much attached. It was mostly a show, really. For you – to keep you away." He looked up at her with pain in his eyes and she inhaled deeply before continuing, "But mostly a show for me. I thought that if I could just be with Sean, I could get you out of my head. He was a distraction." She laughed sadly. "But not a very good one. But since he was obsessed with me-"

"Which is what bothered me the most," Max interjected.

She nodded slowly. "I thought that a person that was obsessed with me would always stick around. It was the safest bet. Even if I refused to have sex with him-" she swallowed as she watched Max tense and realized that there were certain things she had to be careful about telling him from now on. "Sorry."

He brought their still interlaced hands to his mouth and gently kissed her knuckles. "Tell me whatever you want. Don't feel like there are some things you need to hide from me. I mean, I don't want to pry. You have a right to keep some things private. But if you need to talk to me about it, don't hold back just to spare my feelings or something. It might hurt, but I can deal."

Her heart swelled with love and she whispered softly, "Thanks."

"Keep going," he encouraged and she nodded.

"I guess I always thought his obsession would make him stick around. But I guess that was a very naïve way of thinking. But that's why it hurt so much. Even though I probably mostly had myself to blame because I kept a distance between us, it felt like he just proved to me that everyone leaves. Even if they really love me, they will eventually get tired of me and move on to better things."

"Kitten…" Max whispered sadly.

"That's how I felt," Liz said quietly. "And seeing you right at that moment… You made it both worse and better at the same time. I guess you were the perfect person to blame that whole thing on, but I don't think I would've gotten through that night without you."

"I'm glad I was there," Max said softly.

She smiled and scooted even closer to him, their hips now touching. "Me too."

He looked at her for a long second, before he haltingly stumbled out, "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but what had happened earlier that day we were watching Matrix movies?"

She narrowed her eyes in amusement. "Max, you watch Matrix movies every third weekend. You have to be a bit more specific than that."

His face still serious, he clarified, "When I asked you to help out arrange that surprise party for Michael."

Her face paled and she moved slightly away from him. Reflexively, he tightened his grip on her hand so that she wouldn't completely move away. "You don't have to say it, but I thought about that for a long time. I always wondered what you were apologizing for."

She bit her lip and looked away. "You might not want to hear this…"

"Yes, I do."

"I didn't want to sleep with him," she said quietly.

A coldness washed over him and he struggled to keep his voice even as he asked, "Who?"

"Sean." She swallowed. "But he kept pushing me…"

Max's jaw clenched in raw anger. That prick.

"That night, before I came home, he said that he would…" she took a deep breath and said on exhalation, "… he would leave if I didn't…uhm…take our relationship to the next level."

"He forced you?" Max asked darkly, his whole body heating with barely controlled anger.

She glanced up at him, feeling stupid. She knew that she was about to change his view of her and she really didn't want to. "Not really. He gave me an ultimatum."

Max's eyes widened in disbelief and he spurted, "He did what?!"

"If I didn't have sex with him he would leave. I didn't see any other option but to…have sex with him."

"Liz," he whispered as his head fell back against the base of the couch. Liz braced herself as his disappointment washed over her. "There _was_ another option. You could've _left_."

"That wasn't an option for me," she answered, wanting him to understand. "I would look like a failure. It would look like I had failed with yet another relationship and…" there was no way around it, "…you would make fun of me."

"Jesus," he whispered and pulled his hand away from hers to quickly rise to his feet.

Coldness washed over her as she looked up at him running his fingers through his hair.

"You slept with him because of me?" His voice was so full of anguish that she didn't really know what to reply.

"I got together with him because of you," she whispered, "but I didn't sleep with him because of you. All those times I _refused_ to sleep with him were because of you."

He looked down at her skeptically. "But part of why you didn't let him leave that day was because you thought I would make fun of you for it."

"Wouldn't you?" she asked succinctly.

He closed his eyes as he sighed. "I'm an idiot. I'm a fucking idiot."

"If he had left, I wouldn't have anything to put between us."

"What?" She wasn't making any sense.

"I'm this awful person, Max. And you can't even see it. I used Sean to push you away. I used another person and his feelings for me as a way to keep you at bay."

"Whatever your purpose was," Max said, looking at her, "he still didn't have the right to put you in a position where you had to choose between having sex with him and losing him. That makes him an asshole and frankly you should've thrown him out."

She nodded, his disappointment weighing heavily on her heart. "I gave in. I slept with him and then when I came home, there you were. And it hurt," the sob in her throat surprised her and Max's eyes softened. "It hurt to see you and…talk to you just after I had…"

He fell to his knees in front of her and pulled her into his arms. His tight arms around her body comforted her and gave her the strength to relax against him.

"I'm so sorry, Liz. If I could take it all back, I would. I guess I never realized that I could affect your life even at the moments when I wasn't even there."

She huffed sadly, a small smile grazing her lips. "Yeah, you're a bit stupid."

It was a difficult question to ask, but he needed to know. Maybe it was for his own peace of mind or maybe it was to decide if he should go after Sean or not, but, "Did he hurt you? When…you know."

She blushed and suddenly it felt awkward to be in his arms considering the topic of conversation. "I know this is probably gonna go to your head," she smiled, "But you were better."

He smiled, appreciating what she was trying to do. "Really?"

She nodded. "Much better."

"So there's no need for me to hunt him down and wring his neck?"

"He was okay, Max. He _did_ love me. In his own way."

"If he really did, he wouldn't have given you that ultimatum," Max pointed out.

She pulled out of his arms and smiled at him. "Not everyone is as perfect as you, Evans."

He laughed and inhaled deeply. "Phew. This is exhausting. I'm starving." He rose to his feet and offered his hand to help her off the floor. "Want some nourishment?"

She looked at him incredulously. "I thought we just established that you don't have any food in your fridge."

"There's always take-out."

"Max," she glanced at the clock on the wall behind him. "It's two in the morning."

"I know a place that's open."

--------------------------------------------------------------

**An hour later**

"Jesus, that was scary," Max laughed.

Liz blushed in mild embarrassment. "Maybe I should never drink again. Just look at what happens when I get alcohol in my system. I flaunt my breasts at parties, I talk about my virginity with my enemy and then I go and lose my virginity to that same person."

"The last one is a good one," Max protested and grabbed one of the Chinese food containers.

"Was it really?" she wondered. "I mean, I loved that night. I loved everything about that night-"

He grinned at her and she itched to throw another pillow at his head.

"But it just complicated things so much."

He placed the container on the table and looked at her seriously. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot," she said, with more confidence than she felt. He always seemed to ask the difficult questions.

"If that night hadn't happened, would you have gotten together with Sean?"

She thought about it for awhile and then shook her head. "Probably not."

He laughed bitter-sweetly. "We really messed it up, didn't we?"

"Royally," Liz agreed and stole the container he was just about to grab.

"Hey!"

"I want to taste this one," she said and pulled it to her chest.

"You won't like it, it's-"

The spiciness attacked her sensitive taste buds and she started coughing.

"-very spicy," Max finished.

"Oh fuck," she mumbled as tears started flowing down her cheeks at the hotness.

With laughter, he pushed to his feet and went to grab a glass of water.

She was waving her hand in front of her open mouth, as if cool air could somehow decrease the sting, when he handed her the glass. She took one sip and grimaced. "Ow, Maax! It made it worse!"

"Sorry," he said and sank down next to her. He took the glass from her while she protested about how the water might help eventually, and put it on the table next to them. Then he framed her face between his hands and pulled her lips towards his.

His lips were really warm from the spicy food he had consumed and his tongue was tingling with hotness as it touched hers. She thought that it might double the effect of the spiciness, but for some reason it kinda helped. If it decreased the spiciness, she wasn't sure, but it certainly made her feel better.

He pulled away and looked at her with a crooked smile. "Did it help?"

Her eyes still closed, she mumbled dazed, "Mm-hmm."

"Good, then let's move to the bedro-"

Liz smacked him across the head before he had a chance to finish the sentence. He pulled out of her range with a laugh. "Joke, Parker. It was a _joke_."

"Sure it was," she said and reached for her glass of water.

"Do you want any more of this?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye and offered her the spicy container.

"No, you can have it," she answered as if she was giving something up instead of getting rid of it. "I'll stick to the eggrolls."

"Sure thing," Max said and pushed his chopsticks into the container.

Liz pulled the eggrolls towards her and said, "Did you know that Maria knew?"

"Knew what?"

"That we…you know…feel certain things for each other."

He decided to not tease her about her inability to voice her feelings. For once.

"Hmm," he considered, "I'm not that surprised about that. She kept giving me these odd gifts all the time."

Liz's interest was piqued. "Like what?"

"Uhm… CDs with ocean sounds and whales or something, and these scented candles. She told me that it would calm me down. She figured I was tense or something."

"Very subtle," Liz smiled.

"She's an odd cookie, that one."

"Yeah. I'm glad Michael and she got together. He needed someone like her."

Max nodded. "But it made me look bad."

"Why's that?"

"He was the last guy I thought would settle down so quickly, but he did. And because he decided to have a steady girlfriend I looked even more like a manwhore next to him."

Liz grimaced at the truth of it. "True."

"And I think we lost a big part of what constituted our friendship when we couldn't talk about girls anymore. Talking about Maria got boring very quickly."

Liz stared at him. "You can't be serious? A big part of your friendship was girls? That's kinda sad."

"Not like that," Max insisted. "There was just a type of comrade between us when we could joke about those types of things. Just like girls gossip, I guess. Then he turned all husband-like on me and it kinda took the fun out of it."

"Poor you," Liz said sarcastically.

"To be honest, I envied him."

Liz looked at him in surprise. "You envied him?"

"I wanted what he had. I wanted someone I could love and that loved me. I wanted that security. I wanted everything that came with that. Good and bad. But I could never find it. I guess sometimes it's hard to see what's right in front of you."

"We both need glasses," Liz nodded.

"And some common sense," Max chuckled.

"No," she smiled. "That's just you."

"Thanks, kitten. How did you ever become so good at making people feel good about themselves?"

She smiled sweetly at his sarcasm and answered, "Years and years of practice."

The food started to settle in her stomach, making her suddenly feel very tired, and she desperately tried to stifle a yawn.

Max smiled at her as she pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. "Tired?"

"It's been a long day," she answered.

Max stood up. "Okay." He started to close the lids of all the containers. "Let's get some sleep."

She felt small and vulnerable as she watched him rearrange things on the TV-table with confident movements. They had slept in the same bed several times. Sometimes because Max had wandered into her room drunk and other times because he had come to comfort her. There had always been a reason. Now there wasn't. She wasn't upset. She wasn't drunk. They were both completely sober…

"What's on your mind, kitten?"

His gentle question startled her out of her reverie and she blinked herself back to reality. "I'm nervous."

He was surprised by her honesty and a wave of fierce protectiveness flooded him. "I can sleep on the couch if you want."

She shook her head, her lips pressed together in determination. "No. I want to sleep with you."

He laughed softly and she blushed when she realized where his mind had gone. "I _mean_-"

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet, interrupting her fierce attempt at clarification with a kiss. She melted into his lips as his large hands pressed her body close against his.

Their heavy breaths mingling around them as they pulled apart and Max smiled at her. "I know what you mean. And I won't touch you."

Increased blood flow flustered her cheeks and she whispered, "But I want you to."

His face turned serious as he tried to read between the lines, trying to figure out what she was telling him even before she started explaining herself. "I need you to hold me. I need to have you close."

He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. "Yes, love."

She bit her lower lip, something Max found incredibly sexy in its innocence, and looked up at him with large worried eyes. "Is everything gonna be okay?"

He stroked a non-existent strand of hair behind her ear and let the pad of his thumb move gently back and forth against the softness of her skin. "I don't know. But I'm gonna fight for it with everything I have."

She nodded, for once feeling comforted by the fact that he knew as little as she did. "Me too."

Looking deep into her eyes, he said softly. "I love you."

A slow smile spread across her lips and she reached up on the tip of her toes and brushed her lips against his. "I love you."

"What time do you think Michael will come by to kill me?" Max asked casually as she stepped out of his arms.

She shrugged, "Uhm…About ten, I guess. And I have to work so I won't be here to protect you."

He looked innocently troubled as he pouted his lips in worry. "Bummer."

Turning serious, she took his hand and as they started walking towards the bedroom she asked, "Do you think he'll ever accept us being together?"

"He better," Max said. "Because I'm not letting you go."

Liz inhaled deeply and nodded, hoping that Michael would come around. Because she really didn't want to be forced to choose between her brother and Max.

TBC...


	36. A White Knight in Disguise

**35. A White Knight in Disguise**

Michael's birthday  
The Crashdown  
(2002) Max is 17, Liz is 16

Max grinned as Michael looked at him with a grim expression, specifically telling Max that Michael was going to kill his best friend for this.

"Hi Max," someone said quietly at his side and Max looked down into the dark blue eyes of Lindsey, a girl in his class.

He smiled at her. Since their surnames started with the same letter they had been put together on more than one group assignment. Max liked Lindsey. She was a really sweet girl. She was endearingly shy but the few words that came out of her mouth told of a sharp brain.

"Hey Linds," Max said. "Enjoying yourself?"

"This is great," she smiled. "Michael doesn't look too happy though."

Her eyes twinkled at him in amusement and he nodded, his words those of mock nonchalance. "No, he hates surprises."

She laughed softly. "Then why did you throw him a _surprise_ party?"

Max gleamed at her mischievously. "Why not?"

Amused, she shook her head. "For what it's worth, you did a good job."

"I had help," Max said.

She nodded and he failed to notice as her eyes stopped glittering. She donned an easy-going expression while her smile tightened ever so slightly. "Oh. Liz helped you?"

"Yeah, it was her idea," Max said.

Her smile softened. "I'm having troubles believing that."

He laughed quietly. "I can't fool you, Linds."

She smiled at him shyly and docked her head slightly. "Don't you forget it."

"Have you gotten something to eat?" Max asked and pointed towards the buffet that was being ravaged by ravished teenage boys. "If not, I suggest you hurry."

"Good idea," Lindsey agreed and turned her body slightly away from his. "See you around, Max."

"Yeah," Max smiled, his smile turning distracted as he caught an eyeful of familiar brown hair on the other side of the glass door.

Lindsey noticed his attention waver and a longing of the unattainable kind poured into her eyes as she turned towards the busy buffet table.

Max had his hand on the door, about to push it open, when Liz took a step to the side and revealed that she was not alone.

Billy.

Billy was Liz Parker's first boyfriend. She wouldn't call him that yet, but she had been on several dates with the guy and just a week earlier Liz Parker had, in her first drunken daze, revealed that Billy wanted to take their relationship to the next level.

They say that ignorance is bliss, and Max had fully realized this as Liz had let him in on this fact. Because prior to Liz deciding to share her fears of losing her virginity, he was able to happily tell himself that his little Lizzie wasn't even considering doing anything as grown-up as having sex. He kept telling himself that he just didn't want her to enter a world he had been part of for about two years already because he would never admit to himself that there might be another reason to him not wanting her to enter that part of the adult world.

He pulled slightly backwards, into the shadows, as a discussion mute to him unfolded between the couple.

Billy moved closer to Liz as she discreetly moved backwards; his arms searching for contact with her body as she subtly dodged his hands.

Max tensed and immediately reached for the door as Billy placed one hand on Liz's breast. Before Max had time to push on the door, Liz pushed Billy, her face turning red with anger and humiliation.

"Don't ever do that again," she warned, her loud voice breaking through the closed door and reaching Max's ears.

"Why are you such a prude?!" Billy said harshly and Max's hands clenched into cold hard fists.

Liz's face flushed with chagrin, flinching like Billy had just hit her. The hurt in her eyes sent a sharp current through Max's body and he inhaled deeply against the onslaught of dividing emotions.

"A prude?" she spat out, her voice prickled with hurt and laced with anger.

"I get to kiss you but nothing more?" he asked and Max vision was starting to blur. His heart rate was racing and his thoughts were becoming drowned in the swooshing sound of increased blood flow to his head.

"I won't have sex with you just because you feel like it," Liz said and her voice broke through to Max with crystal clarity, making him loosen his iron grip on the door handle.

_Good girl, Parker,_ he thought.

"Aren't you the slightest curious?" Billy asked and took a step closer to Liz.

She looked up at him stubbornly, her face as hard as stone, as he towered above her.

Max could see Billy's lips moving, as he said something quietly to Liz, but none of the words reached Max's ears.

But Max didn't need to hear. He watched with throbbing anger Billy's hand drift between his and Liz's body, slide down the front of her tank top and into her skirt.

It all happened very fast after that.

Liz's hands came up and tried to push him away, but Billy pulled her protesting body closer with his free hand, his other hand somewhere down her skirt, and Max stormed through the door.

"Max," Liz gasped in shocked surprise, something akin to relief in her voice as the sound of the door opening behind them announced Max's added presence.

Billy, having missed out on Liz's gasped announcement, jumped slightly as Max laid a hard hand on his shoulder.

"Billy, my man," Max said evenly while he with one strong tug on Billy's shoulder pulled the boyfriend away from Liz.

Liz took a step back, whatever she had been meaning to say stuck to her lips as Max looked at her over Billy's shoulder with dark fiery eyes. There was nothing cool about the energy he was emitting, except the coldness of his voice.

"I've been looking for you."

Billy looked up at Max in surprise. Max Evans had been looking for him? Max Evans was like one of the gods in school. Captain of the football team, worshipped by the girls and idolized by the guys… And he had been looking for _him_?

Billy swallowed in surprised awe and turned to face Max…and immediately wished he hadn't. There was nothing friendly about his idol's face. Unfortunately for Billy, he didn't know that Max and Liz went way back. Even though their relationship was based on arguments, there was no mistaken at that point that Max was furious about the way Billy had just treated Liz.

"How're you doin'?" Max asked casually, looking at Billy as if he was asking him about the weather. But the way Max's grip on Billy's shoulder was leaving a bruise contradicted the casualty of the question.

"F-f-fine," Billy stuttered.

"I see you're getting on with the ladies," Max said and lifted an eyebrow as a smile fluttered across his lips.

"Y-yes," Billy answered and tried to smile at something that was obviously meant to be a joke between to virile men, but something about Max's body language had Billy's smile strain across his mouth.

Max looked over at Liz and smirked, a look meant only for her. "She is one fine specimen."

Liz's eyes darkened as his smirk dissolve whatever gratitude she had lined up for him for rescuing her from Billy's inappropriate hands.

Her voice was dark and almost menacing as she bit out, "Shut up."

Max raised an eyebrow as he spoke, his eyes trained on Liz's face, "Whoa…man. You picked a feisty one."

That seemed to lighten the tension and Billy laughed, albeit still nervously, "Tell me about it."

"Have you gotten into her pants yet?"

Liz's mouth dropped open and her eyes glistened with tears of hurt, which had Max lose his footing on the conversation for a second.

"Actually," Billy voiced, unaware of the wordless exchange between Max and Liz, "she's a bit unwilling."

Max chuckled and pulled his eyes away from Liz's flushed face to look straight at Billy. The expression in Max's eyes had Billy take an automatic step backwards, unease spreading throughout his body. "Are you doing it right, Billy?"

"Uhm…" Billy hesitated. "What do you mean?"

Max released his angry grip on the freshman boy's shoulder, leaving the tissue numb in its wake, and slowly reduced the distance between him and Liz.

Liz looked up at him with angry eyes as he got closer and tried to straighten herself up even though Max had forced her back against the wall.

"Get away from me," she whispered thickly, her eyes burning with warning.

He merely smiled at her and brought his hand up to her face, whispering fingers down her cheek. He ignored the softness and heat of her skin, focusing on the task at hand.

Her breathing was shallow and harsh as she squeezed her lips together and hissed, "Don't touch me."

"She _is_ a feisty one," Max murmured and Billy's nervous cackle had Max momentarily halting his ministrations of Liz's flustered skin. Her skin was inflamed with anger, making her look particularly stunning.

Max swallowed and unknowingly clenched the hand that was hanging along the side of his body in an attempt at self-control.

His fingers fluttered along the well-defined line of her jaw and she looked ready to kill him when his thumb gentle brushed across her bottom lip.

"Are you paying attention, Billy?" Max asked and felt more than saw Liz's body tense in front of him.

Billy walked around them, not sure what to make of the display, and came to a stop on Max's left, where he had a good view of what was going on.

"You have to show them that you love them," Max said softly, lacing his every word with the tempting hint of seduction as his index finger traced her upper lip, trying not to reveal in the softness of her red lips.

Max vaguely noted Billy's nod and further closed the distance between his body and hers. His hand slowly moved down the whiteness of the winter skin of her throat, softly sliding his fingers underneath her bra strap at the edge of the overlying strap of her green top.

There was still murder in her eyes, but something else was mixed with her expression. Something that had Max's eyes trained on her face to not miss a single shift of the emotions in her brown depths.

"You have to worship them," he continued huskily and adrenaline rushed through his body as he could feel the strong beating of her heart where his fingers were resting below her collarbone underneath the fabric.

He leaned in closer and got a hint of satisfaction in seeing her eyes widen.

"Evans," she warned, her voice sounding dry.

His softly pressed his lips against the skin of her neck and felt a tremble move through her body. "You have to make them," he moved his lips up her neck, placing a trail of slow open-mouthed kisses in his wake, "desire you," his kissed along her jaw, "as much as you," he pulled back and looked into her half-closed eyes, "desire them."

She took a deep breath and then pushed him away.

He was not prepared for the power behind her push and slightly stumbled.

Her hands were shaking with anger as she pointed at him. "I fucking hate you. You're worst than him!" She pointed to Billy, who was frozen in the same position as before, wondering what was actually going on.

"Hey sweetheart, you know you liked it," Max murmured, a teasing glint in his eyes.

She inhaled sharply with indignation and said darkly, "You're an asshole."

"Then explain it to Billy and me," Max shrugged, casual against the onslaught of Liz's turbulent emotions, "because we've both warmed you up to the idea, so why don't you want to take it to the next level?"

She tried to control her thoughts through the blazing anger, tried to control her breathing and to stop her hands from folding around his neck and strangling that smirk off his face. "All of you are the same. You just want one thing; sex sex sex sex. Why does it always have to come down to that? Why can't we just have fun? Huh?"

She turned away from Max and aimed upset eyes at Billy. "I thought we had something-"

"Me too," Billy interrupted, irritation in his voice.

"Something more than sex," she said, knowing what he was trying to get at. Guys were apparently not thinking with the head on their shoulders. "You should wait for me."

"You want me, Lizzie," Billy huffed, pushing his chest out. "I could tell from your kisses, your wandering hands-"

"Fuck you!" she burst out, tears of betrayal running down her cheeks. It was worse enough as it was to be called a tease, but to be called a tease in front of Max Evans…

She turned to look at Max, "And what's the purpose of this whole display? Why are you on his side?"

Before Max could answer, Billy interrupted, "Because we guys have to stick together."

Her chest heaving with hard breaths, she looked back and forth between the two guys and then said, "Screw you. Screw you both."

With that she ripped the door open and disappeared inside.

Billy turned with an attempted smile to face Max, but before he had made the full turn he was pressed up against the tiled wall.

"Hey, what's-?!" he spluttered in shock as Max bunched Billy's shirt between his fists, dark eyes very close to Billy's.

"Stay away from her," Max pressed out.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Billy asked, confusion marring his irritation. "You just-"

"Whatever I just did is between Liz and me," Max spit out, "And I'm expecting it to stay that way."

"What?" Billy was confused. Max Evans obviously had some split personality disorder.

"If you ever touch her like that again," Max warned quietly, "If you ever touch _any_ woman like that again without her permission…you're dead."

"You just…what? You just…" Billy spluttered. He had just watched Max Evans do exactly the same thing to Liz as he was now telling Billy to never do. He was confused.

"Consider it a helpful demonstration," Max said. "She didn't want me to touch her. She specifically told me from the start to get away from her. But I didn't listen, just like _you_ didn't listen."

"But she wanted it-"

Max grimaced, his eyes getting even darker. "See, that's where you're wrong, _Billy_." He slammed him up against the wall again for effect before continuing, "When did she want it?"

He was getting scared now. Max Evans was one year older, was about three inches taller and was a lot stronger than Billy. Plus, he looked really pissed.

"When…when she…She didn't push you away. She let you touch her, she let you kiss her."

"But she said from the beginning that she didn't want me to touch her," Max said. "Which is the point. _That's_ when you should've listened. _That's_ when you should've stopped."

Billy frowned. "Hey man, I think you're confusing what you just did with what I did."

"No," Max said casually, "No confusion. I was just repeating what you just did so that you could see it without being a part of it. I was foolish enough, I guess, to assume that you might see the errors if you were an observer instead of being part of it."

"Come on, man," Billy said, trying another tactic. "Let's be honest. She wanted it. She would've walked away otherwise."

"Like she tried to walk away when you held on to her tighter before?" Max mused.

"I didn't-"

"You know, rape is a very serious thing."

Billy's eyes widened in shock. "I wasn't going to rape her!"

"With me… her body betrayed her. She got lost in the sensations I could make her feel. So she didn't push me away. But even then, she said 'no' to start with." Max grip tightened anew on Billy's shoulders and his voice grew darker, "With you…her body didn't betray her. She didn't want you. She tried to get away and you tried to force her."

"You're twisted, man," Billy spit out.

"I could smash you to pieces," Max warned and watched the fear dilute the hostility in Billy's eyes. "I should've already. But I figured that maybe you wouldn't learn anything from that and you would just go on hurting someone else one day."

"I thought you were cool," Billy said slowly.

Max narrowed his eyes. "Cool as in raping young women?"

"Come on! That bitch was asking-"

He didn't have the chance to finish the sentence before Max's fist drove into the unexercised muscles of Billy's abdomen, having Billy sink to his knees with a groan.

"You need to learn some respect for women, Billy Boy," Max said.

"Oh, like you have," Billy gasped, clutching his stomach while he slowly pulled himself into a fetal position. "How many girls did you screw last week, Evans?"

Max bent down and took a hold of Billy's collar, pulling his face close before telling him hotly, "They all said 'yes'."

He left Billy in a pile on the floor, the guilt of how he had just treated Liz drumming through his conscience. It had been a game. Just another game between them. He couldn't deny that he had gotten some enjoyment out of seeing how far he could push her. But he wasn't really happy about how he must've made her feel in the end; completely humiliated.

But he still felt like he needed to teach Billy a lesson. He wasn't if sure he had actually gotten through to the guy. The only result from the whole encounter might've been hurting Liz.

But she hated Max anyway. Maybe now she could direct her anger at him instead of trying to confront Billy and get herself into more trouble.

Maybe he should've just let her sort it out herself. Maybe she would've been able to push him away. Maybe he should've given her that small victory.

But there was just something about Elizabeth Parker that made him go all caveman and evidently brought out the worst in him. Oddly, it always seemed to end the same way.

With her getting hurt and him walking away with his guilt-ridden head hanging low.

TBC...


	37. Christmas Presents

**36. Christmas Presents**

Christmas Eve  
Max and Liz's home  
(2017) Max is 32, Liz is 31

She could hear the giggles from outside the house, the sound spreading love throughout her body. Wiping her hands on the kitchen towel, she began loading the plastic container with freshly baked cookies, a small smile dancing across her lips as she listened in on the voices that had increased marginally in intensity as the front door had opened.

"But it was different than before!" Liz heard the young clear voice protest.

"Different, huh?" the warm dark timbre of her husband's voice asked.

A small girl, measuring only about 2 feet, walked around the corner with her honey-colored eyes brightening at the sight of Liz.

Liz's answering smile, however, froze on her face at the sight of her four-year-old daughter.

"Hi mommy," the girl announced, plopping her small pink bag on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Hey sweetie," Liz said calmly, before throwing an annoyed look at Max as he appeared around the corner. She looked back at her daughter before she could see the answering grin on Max's face. "Did you have fun?"

"I got a present," the girl announced.

Liz narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, a smile lingering at the edges of her mouth. "You got a present?" Then she looked up at Max that was leaning against the wall, looking very casual.

Liz's heart missed a beat and she quickly swallowed the desire that rushed through her. They had been married for almost ten years and he still had the ability to make her knees go weak. Especially when he knew he was in trouble. There was a certain glint in his eyes that reminded her of their turbulent relationship as teenagers, which always enticed her in the most tempting of ways.

He raised an eyebrow as he noticed the blush coloring her cheeks and a knowing smile spread across his lips.

Zoe's fervent nodding had Liz focusing onto her daughter once again. "A present for Christmas!"

"Really?" Liz mused. "I thought Santa brought all the presents."

"Daddy wanted to give me one," the four-year-old announced with glittering eyes.

Liz held back a snort and shook her head in disbelief at her husband as his eyes just grew lighter with amusement. "What did daddy give you?"

Zoe shrugged. "I dunno. It's a present."

"Did you point it out for him?" Liz asked.

Zoe bit her lower lip and shook her head. "Nope. He thought of it aaaall by himself."

Max chuckled at the hint of awed surprise in Zoe's voice. That her father could actually come up with a present all on his own was a very big thing in her world.

"Well, isn't he a good daddy," Liz said, happy that her daughter was too young to understand sarcasm. "Did he give you ice-cream too?"

Zoe's eyes grew into the size of saucers and her mouth fell open in wonder. She spun around and addressed her father, "Daddy, did you tell her?"

Max looked puzzled when he answered, "No, baby. I don't know how she knows these things. Your mom sees everything."

Zoe looked back at her mom and nodded slowly, her little mind perplexed with the idea of an all-seeing mother. Did every kid have a mother like her? A mother who knew everything that happened?

"You've got ice-cream all over your face," Liz said softly, bending down to tickle her stomach.

Zoe erupted in delighted laughter as she shied away from her mother's tickling hands and ran over to her father, hiding behind him. Looking up at him, she announced happily – and slightly relieved, "Dad, she knew because of the ice-cream on my face."

Max gasped, his eyes wide with astonishment as if she had cracked the largest mystery on the planet. "Yes! You're right. That must be it."

Liz rose from her seated position, her eyes momentarily glancing at the kitchen clock before landing on Max. "It's minus four outside and you two are eating ice-cream."

"It was a comp-compee…" Zoe looked up at her father in question and he smiled at her.

"Competition?"

Zoe nodded. "Uh-huh. We had one. And I won!"

"You had an ice-cream competition?"

Zoe nodded again. "Daddy didn't eat all of his because he put it in my hair instead."

Liz rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well then. That would make him lose, wouldn't it?"

"He's a loser," Zoe announced proudly.

Max's mouth twitched in a restrained smile, while Liz fully gave into her smile her eyes making easy contact with Max. "He sure is."

Liz fell to her knees and gestured with her hands towards herself. "Come here, Miss Evans."

Zoe walked over, prepared to give her mother a hug, but Liz stopped her in time, taking a hold of her daughter's small shoulders. "Hugs later, okay?" Taking a closer look at her daughter, Liz noticed the ice-cream sticking her daughter's dark brown hair together into unkempt curls. "You, missy, need a bath."

Zoe's face fell and she stuck her bottom lip out far enough to be considered the biggest pout in existence. With a whine, she protested, "But I just had one."

"Zoe Evans," Liz said seriously, looking into her daughter's dark eyes, "Do you want to celebrate Christmas with sticky hair?"

She sighed. "It's daddy's fault."

Liz nodded. "I'm sure he did his part. Come on, babe. Let's go and run the water, okay?"

Zoe's shoulders sloped as she agreed with a silent 'okay' and then she was off, bouncing towards the bathroom as if the prospect of taking a bath didn't bother her too much any longer.

Liz threw her husband a glance and said as she turned towards the bathroom, "I'll be right back."

"I can't wait," he answered with a grin.

Having turned on the water, adjusted the temperature and instructed her daughter to choose which scent she wanted for her bubbles, Liz returned to the kitchen to turn off the oven.

Max was still there, looking through the box of cookies.

"Hey!" she said sternly and smacked the back of his hand. "Those are not to be eaten yet."

Max sighed disappointed and watched her as she walked past him.

She couldn't help but smile as his strong arms encircled her waist from behind.

"You got her a present?" Liz asked as his lips nuzzled the side of her throat, picking up at where they left their previous conversation.

"Mhmm," he answered, his fingers drifting underneath her thick sweater, only to find another layer of clothing.

"You're making me into the mean one," Liz said softly. To her chagrin, her voice sounded more like a dreamy sigh than an abolishment.

"How's that?" he murmured, his fingers fumbling underneath the top to find yet another piece of clothing.

"Because _I_ didn't give her a present," Liz answered, pressing her back against the warmness of his body.

"Of course you did," he answered.

"No," Liz lowered her voice, "They're all supposedly from Santa."

She gasped as he spun her around, pressing the small of her back into the edge of the kitchen counter. He was not meeting her eyes; his gaze locked on her abdomen. The line of puzzlement across his forehead had her asking, "What's wrong?"

"Why are you wearing so many layers?"

She laughed and he looked up at her with a small boyish smile that had her practically melting in his arms.

"Because it's cold," she answered.

He cocked his head to the side and grinned. "I'm here to warm you up now."

His fingers were trailing along the sides of her abdomen, underneath her last layer of clothing, skin against skin.

"Zoe is very close," Liz warned.

"You say that like you think I'm going to get us into trouble," Max said and hoisted her up against his front, getting her to put her legs around his hips.

"You always get us into trouble," she whispered as he pressed her body into the counter to hold her up so that his hands were free to roam her body. A breath caught in her throat as his right hand inched underneath her panties, brushing innocently the upper border of her curls.

"Maax," she partly warned, partly moaned. "She can come out any second."

"I'm not doing anything," he laughed softly, capturing her lips with his.

Her arms drifted around his neck and she pulled him even closer as his tongue entered her mouth. "Mmmm," she murmured.

His right hand moved across her hips, stretching the material of the panties across the back of his hand as he moved underneath it before he reached around her and his fingers slid down her pliant ass. He used the same hand to push her closer up against his throbbing desire as his lips devoured her mouth.

"Mooom! Daaad!"

They broke apart with the speed of lightning, Max quickly removing his hand from Liz's panties and looking into the direction of the exasperated voice.

Their four-year-old was looking at them with an impatient expression across her dark features, her hands firmly on her hips.

"Stop smooching," she complained and Liz had to bit her swollen lower lip to not laugh as she against her better judgment glanced up at Max and saw him struggling not to laugh.

Only their daughter could make them feel like teenagers again.

Zoe put her head to the side and regarded her mother curiously, "Did you forget about my bath?"

"Uhm…" Liz licked her lips, "Mommy got a bit distracted."

Max chuckled and Liz smacked him over the chest, hissing, "Quiet you."

"Mom, why are you hitting dad?" Zoe asked.

Max put his hand against his mouth and had to look away to stop him from erupting in laughter from the annoyed look Liz gave him. How did Max always get away from answering this type of questions? Why was Liz always the one accused?

"Because he's being naughty," Liz answered.

"Very naughty," Max mumbled under his breath and Liz raised her hand to smack him again, but stopped herself at the last second.

Zoe frowned, but quickly decided that this was a confusing and boring discussion. "Mommy, my bath is ready."

"That's good, honey," Liz answered, "Go and take your clothes off. I'll be right there."

"Okay," Zoe said and disappeared.

The second she was out of earshot, Max started laughing and Liz boxed him on the arm. "You…you…"

"What?" he asked and before she could answer he grabbed her face between his hands and silenced her words with a heated kiss.

Her hands threaded through his hair, taking a firm grip on his head as he grabbed her ass and spun them around, plopping her down very unceremoniously on the kitchen table.

"How long before she comes out again?" Max asked breathlessly between kisses.

"About 30 seconds," Liz answered, her hands moving restlessly across the defined muscles of his back underneath his shirt.

"Okay," Max murmured, sucking on her neck, while his hands moved upwards underneath her three layers of clothing and encased her breasts. "Whoa, you are cold."

"I'm getting warmer by the second," Liz gasped as his thumbs rolled over her nipples. "Max, what if she-"

"I know," he interrupted, directing her lips back to his.

"Mooooom!"

They broke apart panting, the look of wild abandoned passion in both sets of dark eyes as they first stared at each other before looking in the direction of the bathroom.

"We're gonna be late," Liz whispered, her chest heaving with labored breathing which wasn't made easier by the fact that Max's fingers were still running along the sides of her breasts.

"Maria's gonna kill us," Max nodded.

"We need to pick up your father," Liz added and watched Max's face sigh with remembrance while he pulled his hands out from underneath her shirt.

"Right, dad."

"Mom! Stop kissing dad!" Zoe yelled from the bathroom and Liz looked up at Max's laughing eyes while she shook her head in amazement.

"You know why it's always me that's the bad parent? Because I don't suck up to her like you do."

"You're not the bad parent," he protested with a smile, knowing that she was only joking. "And I don't suck up to her."

"Right, she's just daddy's girl," Liz shrugged, smoothening her top, her second top and her sweater down and jumped off the table.

His hand on her arm stopped her and she stopped for a second to look up into his eyes. A soft, loving smile had replaced the grin and he reached out to her face to gently stroke her cheek. "She adores you."

She smiled softly at his effort and nodded. "Yeah."

"You do believe that, don't you?" he asked.

Her smile warmed and she placed a soft kiss on his lips. "Of course I do." Turning serious she looked towards the bathroom, "How long do you think she will ground us for?"

Max seemed to consider this for a second before answering, "For that? About two days."

"Damn," Liz said and put on a disappointed expression. "I guess we have to scratch that secret trip to the cinema to make out."

He leaned down and kissed the side of her mouth, making her lean into his touch and almost have her mouth chase after his. He winked at her when he pulled back which made her blush. "There's always the backseat."

She nodded contemplatively. "True. Very true."

"Moooommy," Zoe yelled again and Liz rolled her eyes.

"Duty's calling."

"I'll go and get ready," Max said and pulled her in for a last peck on the lips before he let her go with a smile.

"Maybe you should go and get Philip first while I bathe Zoe and get myself ready."

"Okay," he agreed. "Love you."

"Yes, horny boy, you've shown that plenty already," Liz sighed in mock exasperation which earned her a grin from her husband before he disappeared past her into the master bedroom to change clothes.

----------------------------------------------------------------

**Three hours later  
Maria and Michael's home**

He looked down as he felt her cool hand grab his, only to a second later be pulled towards the front door.

"Kitten?" he wondered as she pulled him outside into the chilling winter and closed the front door behind them. "What's up?"

Before he fully got a chance to finish that sentence, her lips were on his, her fingers demanding as they tugged at his hair. His surprise wore off quickly as he instinctively responded to her kiss.

She pressed herself up against him with such force that he felt himself being pushed up against the hard wall, her warm body pressed intimately against his front.

"Parker?" he wondered as she pulled away and looked up at him with swollen lips and insecure eyes.

Max frowned at the latter and his hand whisked through her hair, his thumb brushing across the edge of her cheek to cradle her ear.

"I need you," she whimpered, wrapping her arms around him.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, suspecting that the miniscule tremors shaking her body was more due to nervousness than the cold wind.

"I wanted to talk to you earlier, but I couldn't tell you," Liz mumbled against his chest.

His arms around her tightened and he pressed his cheek against the top of her head, trying to encase her in warmth and protection. "Just tell me."

"I know we haven't really discussed it, but…" her voice trailed off and he frowned.

"Just tell me, kitten," he said impatiently, which caused her to smile and press a kiss against his shirt.

"How do you feel about more children in the house?" she said.

Max sighed. "Do we have to babysit Michael's kids again?"

She shook her head and pulled away from him to look up at him with shiny eyes. Smiling tentatively, she said softly, "I'm pregnant."

He stared at her, his mouth going dry as it went slack in his face. "Huh?"

She arched an eyebrow with an amused smile. "I'm knocked up. I've got a bun in the oven. I'm expecting. I'm pregge-"

He put up his hands to stop her onslaught of words. "Uhm…yes, thank you. I get the message."

Insecurity flooded her facial expression and she bit her bottom lip doubtfully as she looked up at him through dark lashes.

His eyes were fixed at something on the ground and she didn't realize it was her stomach until he raised his hand and gently laid it against her abdomen. Looking up with glistening eyes, he took a deep breath, tried to speak but ended up smiling instead as the words failed him.

His smile warmed her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes and her responding smile was just as radiant.

His hand came up to cradle her cheek and he looked deep into her eyes, his eyes sparkling with emotion. "I love you."

"So you're happy?" she asked slowly.

"We make the best babies," Max said with a crooked smile that shot straight through her heart, "Of course I'm happy, Parker."

He took another look at her and mused, "That explains why you've been so horny."

Her mouth fell open in indignation and her fingers suddenly itched to hurt him. "Hey! Who was the one that attacked me before?"

"I saw the look on your face," Max said. "You started it. I just responded to what you wanted. You women always go on and on about how men can't read your minds and when we do we get punished for it?"

He looked at her questioningly, humor tainting his golden eyes.

"You're just as horny as me – if not hornier!!" Liz erupted just as the front door opened.

"Uhm…okay," Philip murmured and Max looked ready to explode with laughter as Liz's face turned tomato red before she slowly turned around to face her father-in-law.

"Eh…it's not what it sounded like," she said.

Philip looked almost as amused as his son, but a calmness brought on by age was making it easier for him to restrain himself. "Of course not, honey."

"Did you want…" Max cleared his throat, scratching his ear, "…something, dad?"

"We're ready to eat."

"Good," Liz sighed and threw a glare in Max's direction before she excused herself and walked back into the house.

Max saw the questioning smile on his father's face and shook his head, "Don't ask."

"Oh believe me, I would rather not know," Philip answered.

"Let's go back in," Max said and reached beside his father to grab the door handle.

"Max," Philip's voice stopped him and Max turned to face his father.

"Yes?"

"She makes you happy, doesn't she?"

Max smiled softly, something of a far-away look in his eyes. "She's amazing."

Philip nodded softly, a bittersweet smile on his lips. Max was struck with the insight that his father was at that exact moment thinking about Max's mother and an odd feeling struck him. Having found his own soulmate and having started a family with that same person, he suddenly understood on another level the vast darkness his father must have been drowning in when Diane died. She had been the love of his life, just like Liz was to Max. If something ever happened to Liz, Max wasn't sure he would be able to go on living.

"I'm so happy for you, son," Philip said, squeezing Max's shoulder, his voice pulling Max out of his gloomy thoughts. "I really am."

Max smiled weakly, "Thank you, dad."

--------------------------------------------------------

**One hour later**

"No, sweetheart," Maria scolded lightly, pulling the chubby hand containing the flower soil away from her two-year-old son's mouth.

Lucas looked up at her with large green eyes, the black dirt staining his pink bottom lip. His eyes followed his mother's movement as she grabbed a hold of his small hand and brushed the soil off his warm palm.

Zoe came up behind Maria and said, "Lucas, come."

Lucas chubby face lit up and he stretched his arms out for his cousin. Zoe smiled with the air of a big sister and put her arms under Lucas' armpits and pulled him upwards. She was breathing heavily just getting him to his feet. It was with her tongue half-way out her mouth and a frown of fierce concentration on her forehead that she partly dragged, partly lifted the toddler across the floor.

"He's a real charmer," Liz said softly behind Maria and Maria nodded with a smile.

"He's so quiet I don't really believe he's ours."

Liz put her arms around her friend's waist and rested her chin on Maria's shoulder. "You've been saying that since he was born."

"I still can't believe it," Maria said. "He hardly cried when he was a newborn. He rarely fussed when he was growing older. And now he just sits and looks at everything. Without a word."

"Well, at least you have Alba," Liz said, a smile coloring her voice.

"True," Maria nodded. Alba made enough noise for five toddlers. She was _definitely_ a child of Maria and Michael Parker.

"How are you doing, girlfriend?" Maria asked, craning her neck slightly to appraise Liz's face. There was a fresh blush coloring Liz's cheeks and her eyes were shining bright with contentment and happiness. "From the look of your face I presume you and Max are doing well."

"I've got news," Liz said with a secret smile.

Maria's eyes brighten with curiosity and she twirled out of Liz's arms to be able to take a good look at her friend's face. "What is it?"

Liz dropped her eyes, a small smile gracing her lips as her hands moved inconspicuously across her abdomen. But nothing got past Maria.

Maria's eyes widened as she gasped, "You're pregnant!"

Liz looked up in surprise, the question clear in her eyes. Before she had time to even think about how to formulate that question, Maria squealed and threw crushing arms around Liz.

Liz found herself bouncing along with an exuberant Maria, still trying to figure out if Maria really was a mind-reader like Max had suspected for several years.

"It's about time," Maria sighed and released Liz from her iron-grip. "I thought you had decided on only having one kid or something. Because obviously you don't have problems performing the act-"

Liz rolled her eyes, "Maria…"

Maria waved her words away and stilled, a slow smile filling her lips and twinkling her eyes. "Congratulations, Lizzie."

Liz pulled Maria into another hug and whispered, "Thank you" into Maria's ear.

"Should I be jealous?" a voice murmured behind them and the women pulled apart to find Max watching them with a smile.

"Max, my man," Maria said in a deep masculine voice, stepping up to the dark-haired man, "Good work."

"Thanks," Max answered, without any doubt to what he was being complimented for.

"It's about time," Maria added pointedly.

Max shrugged. "Well, you can't rush perfection." He found Liz's hand and pulled her into his side. "I think Alba needs your attention."

Maria's face immediately fell and she sighed wearily, "What did she do now?"

"Let's just say that she might need another set of clothes," Max offered calmly.

Maria sighed again before she took off in a stride towards the living room. "Alba Jessica Parker. You are in big trouble, missy!"

Liz pulled out of Max's warm arms reluctantly and murmured, "Let's go see where our daughter is."

Max nodded and kissed the tip of her nose. "Let's hope she's dry."

Liz narrowed her eyes, but decided it was better not to ask. For not the first time, she was hit with the understanding of how Gabriela must've felt when her, Max and Michael would run around and make a mess when they were little.

It was their children's turn now.

Max's hand brushed across her flat abdomen and a wondrous smile caressed his lips as he looked at her abdomen. Looking up, the hand that was still holding onto hers tightened and he whispered, "Is there any way we can get away later?"

Smiling, she shook her head slowly, "See? Who's the horny one?"

He winked at her and pulled her close for a kiss. "What can I say? You make me crazy, Mrs. Evans."

"Hmm," she murmured against the warmth of his lips. "They have a guest room…"

He pulled away, mischief twinkling in his eyes. "Really?"

She slowly licked her lips and nodded.

In his best Mr. Burns from _The Simpsons_ impersonation, Max whispered, "Excellent."

TBC...


	38. Little Earthquakes

**37. Little Earthquakes**

Max and Liz's Apartment  
(2013) Max is 27, Liz is 26

"_Hey baby. I'm gonna be late. Don't stay up and wait for me, okay? Love you._"

Liz pressed the 'Delete' button on the answering machine as her body tiredly sank down on the nearby chair. While her left hand supported her heavy head, her right distractedly stroke along the curved line of her abdomen.

It was the third night in a row, the eleventh time this month, that Max had called to tell her that he wouldn't be able to make it for dinner and it was starting to take its toll on her emotions.

She tried to suck it up; tried to squelch the feelings and be happy whenever he actually _did_ come home. Because the last thing she wanted to do with the time he spent at home was fight.

But as she looked over at the groceries she had just put on the kitchen counter, which were to be used to cook his favorite meal, she had to bite her bottom lip hard to stop the tears from falling.

She felt abandoned. She felt fat and unattractive.

Not for the first time since she had gotten pregnant, her thoughts turned dark with the idea that the pregnancy was a mistake. They were not ready. Max was working two jobs while trying to fit in his college studies at the same time and she was working as much as she could. She had been trying to find a good job before she got pregnant, but when they had realized that they were expecting, she had given up on her job search because there was no reason to find her dream job and have to tell them that she had to go on maternity leave a couple of months later. That wouldn't look too good on her résumé.

So she was stuck taking whatever jobs she could get her hands on, which usually left her dead on her feet at the end of the day.

And it didn't help matters that her husband had gone missing when her back was aching and her feet were too swollen to fit into her normal shoes.

Taking a deep breath and silently banning herself for her pathetic mood, she brushed away invisible tears with the back of her hand and got to her aching feet.

She walked up to the brown paper bags and started unpacking, only to half-way through realize that she had forgotten to buy milk.

"Damn," she muttered and started to consider her options. To go or not to go. Her feet were telling her to sit down in front of the TV and not move an inch while her rational mind was telling her that they needed milk.

Sighing deeply, she grabbed her jacket and her hand bag and walked out the door. Fortunately, the store was within walking distance of their home and she realized when she got outside that she actually didn't mind the fresh air. It cleared the feelings of resignation that were weighing heavily on her heart and with every step her feet felt lighter.

It wasn't too bad. She could do this. Several women went through pregnancy without a husband at their side. Some didn't even have the father in their life. At least Max was still around. Besides, the reason he was away was because he was trying to save as much money for the baby as possible. He was doing it for them.

They had been through worse.

Her hand brushed down her abdomen again and a small smile hinted at the corners of her mouth. Looking up, her gaze flickered across the street and unseeingly glanced over the people walking down the street. Her gaze didn't register the figures until it wandered across the people sitting at the café and her feet reached an abrupt stop when she saw a familiar face at one of the tables. Her heart froze as her eyes traveled from the bright smile on his face to the pretty blonde girl sitting opposite him.

She forgot to breathe as she stared at them, her suddenly icy hands gripping the bottom of her sweater in a desperate attempt at control. Her thoughts were disjointed and hasty as they fumbled through her stunned mind, parading between shock, disappointment, anger, betrayal, sorrow, hurt and a million other unidentifiable emotions.

The milk completely forgotten, Liz turned and numbly started walking in the opposite direction, leaving the laughing couple behind her. She didn't notice the odd looks she was attracting because of the tears streaming down her cheeks and her fast pace, which looked slightly uncomfortable for a woman in her state of pregnancy.

----------------------------------------------------------

**Maria and Michael's house**

Maria jumped out of the car, closed the door and opened the door to the backseat where Alba was strapped into the baby seat. She unbuckled her daughter, flung the carrier bag with Alba's necessary things over her should, and hoisted Alba into her arms. Kicking the door closed with her leg, she fumbled through her pocket while balancing Alba on her hip, found the car key and pressed 'lock'. The car lock beeped to announce the act successful as Maria rounded the front of the car and started walking up to the small house they had bought three months earlier.

Her steps faltered as she looked up and saw a curled up figure sitting at the bottom of the small step outside the front door. Fear gripped her heart as she recognized the sobbing creature to be Liz.

"Lizzie?" she asked concerned as she got closer to the door.

Liz looked up with red eyes and wet cheeks, the look of pain in her eyes so acute that Maria had to look a way. Liz tried to smile, sniffling back the next sob. "Maria. Hey."

Maria frowned at her, ill-ease flushing through her system. "What happened?"

Liz bit her lower lip, her eyes drifting to the toddler in Maria's arms. "Hey Alba."

Alba looked slightly worried herself, gazing astonished at her favorite aunt who didn't look like she usually did. The unease floated over Alba and she turned and hid her face in Maria's chest.

"Can I hold her?" Liz looked at Maria, her eyes begging.

"Is it the baby?" Maria asked, worried, while she handed Alba over to Liz's arms without a second thought.

Alba continued to look at Liz cautiously, but the small smile on her aunt's lips calmed her momentarily as Liz hugged her close to her body. As close as the bump over her midsection would allow.

"Do you need a ride to the hospital?" Maria asked, wondering why Liz was here if something was wrong with the baby.

"It's not the baby," Liz murmured, brushing a feathery kiss across the top of Alba's blonde hair.

"Did something happen to Max?" Maria asked, barely restrained panic in her voice. Something was really wrong. Liz was acting very strangely.

Liz's face fell and her lips and eyes pressed tightly together as she fought against another set of sobs. God, she hated being this hormonal. Pushing her face into the neck of Alba and breathing in her scent, Liz tried to calm herself down.

"No," was her muffled reply. "He's…happy."

Maria frowned and fished the house keys out of her handbag. With a cautious look at Liz and her daughter, she unlocked the door and pushed it open. "Let's go inside."

Liz nodded and passed Maria into the apartment lit with the afternoon sun sifting through the large windows while Maria closed the door behind them and slowly unloaded Alba's stuff in the hallway.

"I'm just gonna put Alba down," Maria said and reached for her daughter. Alba was in desperate need for a nap and judging from Alba's silence, Maria had a feeling that Alba was going to fall asleep instantly instead of the usual protests. Liz's crying countenance had puzzled Alba too much to remember to be herself.

Liz nodded quietly and watched Alba and Maria disappear around the corner. Sniffling, she got to her feet and started walking around the house, looking at all the small photos of her brother, Maria and Alba in different places and events. Her fingers slowly traced the pictures displaying the familial bliss with broad smiles and contented looks, her sobs catching in her throat.

When Maria returned twenty minutes later she found Liz staring at a photo from last year. Alba was just a couple of days old, being held by Michael in the center of the picture. Maria was standing on his right, a bright smile on her face. Max was on Michael's left, his arm tight around Liz's waist, holding her to his side. As the camera had gone off, Max had leaned over and pressed a kiss to the side of Liz's mouth. The photo had captured the teasing look in Max's eyes and the surprise in Liz's. But mostly, it had captured the complete adoration on Max's face.

"I think he's cheating on me," Liz whispered when she heard Maria walk up behind her.

Out of all possible scenarios, Maria hadn't even considered that one. Her frame froze as she stared at Liz with wide shocked eyes.

"What?" she croaked.

"I was trying to be strong and not give into my insecurities-"

"Liz, you can't be serious," Maria said slowly, staring at her friend as if she had gone 100% insane.

"But I guess all the signs were there," Liz continued, still looking at the photo, avoiding Maria's eyes because she knew that she would feel ridiculous if she looked at her sister-in-law.

"You think Max is cheating on you?" Maria repeated incredulously.

"He's never home and-"

Her eyes still big as saucers, Maria sank down on the arm rest of the couch, her mouth hanging open. "Wait. You think _Max_ is _cheating_ on you?"

Liz sighed in frustration and turned to face Maria. Her voice was sharp as she snapped, "Yes! Is that so hard to believe?"

Ignoring Liz's tone of voice, Maria deadpanned, "Yes. Actually."

"Don't be ridiculous," Liz said. "He's no angel."

"Liz," Maria said with a small smile in an attempt to transmit the ridicule of the situation, "Max loves you."

"He also loves girls," Liz murmured, the pain clenching her heart again.

Maria's mouth fell open in disbelief for a second before she started laughing. Liz swallowed against the laughter and crushed her arms protectively across her middle. "This is not funny, Maria."

"Oh my God, Lizzie," Maria said, her laughter coming to an abrupt end. "You can't be serious! Are you still holding onto his past?"

"He was a _playboy_," Liz hissed through tight lips. "It's in his nature."

All humor gone from her face, Maria said harshly, "Oh for God's sake! It was all a charade! He told you that himself!"

Straightening her spine, Liz's face turned hard. "Just because he didn't act on it, doesn't mean he didn't want to."

Maria took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes tiredly as she mumbled incoherent strings of words under her breath. Looking up, she said, "Okay, exactly how did you figure that he's apparently cheating on you?"

"I saw him," Liz answered, her words giving Maria the second shock of the day.

"You-you _what_?" Maria spluttered, imagining Liz walking in on Max having sex with someone.

"I saw him talking to this girl-"

Frowning, Max held up her hand to quiet Liz. "Wait. You saw him _talking_ to someone?"

Liz gave her a warning look. "Let me finish."

"Fine," Maria mumbled, already feeling relieved. If all Liz had seen was Max talking to someone, this couldn't be much more than Liz's imagination pulling away with her, could it?

"I saw him at the café, talking to this…gorgeous blonde girl. They were laughing. And he reached out to touch her hand-"

"Liz," Maria said slowly, trying to find the right words to tell her friend that this might not be what it looked like.

"I know what you're gonna say, Maria," Liz said. "But you didn't see them. I haven't seen Max smile like that in…since before I got pregnant."

"Max would never cheat on you," Maria said.

Liz turned hurt large eyes on Maria. "How do you know?"

"Because I've seen with my own eyes how much he loves you," Maria answered calmly. "And why would he put up with all that bullshit you were putting each other through before you got together if he didn't love you?"

"Maybe he _did_ love me," Liz whispered. "But maybe he doesn't anymore."

Maria raised one eyebrow in disbelief. "Come on, Lizzie. You're having a baby!"

"Exactly!" Liz snapped and walked over to stand in front of Maria, her arms out to her side. "Just look at me, Maria. How can he still love a cow like me?"

Maria sighed heavily. "Is this about you feeling unattractive?"

"No," Liz whispered. "This is about him cheating on me _because_ I'm unattractive."

Maria closed her eyes and shook her head wearily. "I know what you're feeling, _believe me_. But I'm pretty sure Max doesn't see it like that. He loves you."

Liz's eyes filled with tears as her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. "Then why is he never home? Why is he out having coffee with beautiful blonde girls instead of being home with me? We haven't made love in a week, Maria!"

Maria's eyes widened in theatrical shock and she gasped, "You haven't had sex in _one week_?!"

Maybe if the prospect of losing Max wasn't looming at the periphery of her mind, Liz might've found that funny, but now she just turned her face away with silent tears running down her cheeks.

Maria sighed, inwardly scolding herself for her insensitivity – Michael was rubbing off on her – and stood up to put her arms around Liz's waist, resting her chin on her friend's shoulder.

"You know, you're married now," she said softly. "What is it they say; Marriage is the death sentence for your sex life."

"That's not funny," Liz murmured.

"Have you talked to Max about it?" Maria asked.

Liz shook her head. "No, I saw them, turned and walked straight here."

Maria rolled her eyes. Right. They were back to how Liz would run away from an uncomfortable situation.

"I wanted to walk up there," Liz interjected when she saw Maria's facial expression. "But I didn't want to come off as the hormonal pregnant wife having a hissy fit."

"So you walked to your friend's house and had a hissy fit there instead?" Maria wondered while furrowing her eyebrows in amusement.

"I'm perfectly calm," Liz said and emphasized this fact by taking a deep breath. Her trembling hands betrayed her though.

"Call him," Maria said.

"No."

"Why not?"

"He's Max. He's gonna laugh at me. Say I'm being silly and wave it off like another little thing."

"If that's what it is then-"

Liz bit her lips together, frustrated towards a breaking point that out of the two she seemed to be the only one to understand the seriousness of the situation. "I saw what I saw! He leaves a message that he's gonna be late and for me not to wait up. I think that he's out working and I see him having _fun_, meeting with some girl at a café!"

Maria shook her head in amazement. "God, you're really jealous, aren't you?"

"I'm not jealous!" Liz erupted.

"I can't believe I've never seen this in you before," Maria mused.

"If Max is cheating on me, don't I have the right to at the least be jealous?!"

"Maybe it's because Max was always the one acting out on the jealousy that I never noticed your behavior," Maria continued as if Liz wasn't even in the room.

Liz sighed exasperatedly and sank down in the armchair, squeezing her eyes tightly shut, trying to stop the tears from anew falling down her cheeks.

Maria quieted as she saw Liz resignation and bit her lip in sympathy for her best friend. "I'm sorry, Lizzie. I guess I just can't see Max cheating on you. I don't mean to act like I'm not on your side-"

"You _should be_ on my side," Liz grumbled and Maria had to smile at the recognizable stubbornness.

"I'm just trying to make you see Max's side. It's probably not the way it seems."

"She was so pretty," Liz said quietly, large tears rolling silently down her cheeks. "So pretty."

Maria sighed. "_You're_ pretty, Lizzie."

"I'm a cow," Liz murmured. "I hate it. I hate not being able to walk five feet before I need to catch my breath. I hate not being able to tie my own shoes. I hate not being able to make love to my husband properly." Her sobs increased as she exclaimed frustrated. "I can't even see my toes anymore!"

Maria looked at her best friend, pressing her lips tightly together, and really tried, really really tried, not to laugh. But the repressed laughter exploded across her lips and Liz opened her closed eyes in offense. It only took Liz a second before a smile started to spread across her lips.

Picking up a pillow, she threw it at Maria, screaming, "Maria!" while she started laughing herself.

"You're pretty pathetic, you know that?" Maria gasped between giggles, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"Stop making fun of me!" Liz cried, even as laughter was shaking her body.

"Okay, okay," Maria said and willed herself to calm down through deep breaths. Reaching across the couch she grabbed the phone.

"What are you doing?" Liz asked suspiciously as Maria speed-dialed Max's cell phone number.

"Either you are going to talk to him, or I will," Maria announced.

"I don't want to talk to him," Liz said, folding her arms stubbornly around her waist.

"Fine," Maria said, "I'll talk to him."

Liz grimaced as Maria put the phone to her ear, not sure if it was better or worse to have Maria doing the talking.

"Max, hey. It's Maria. Yeah, yeah. I'm good. How's life on your side? Aha…Okay…Yeah, yep. That's understandable. Yeah. Well, actually… I have Liz here with me."

Liz sank further down in the couch as Maria gave her a pointed look when Max said something on the other end.

"She's…well, not really okay…. Calm down, Max. The baby's fine." Maria looked at Liz and mouthed 'Talk to him', to which Liz fervently shook her head.

"But she's a bit upset," Maria continued. "I think you should talk to her about it." Maria grew quiet as she listened to Max on the other end, before she said, "Problem is she doesn't want to talk to you."

Not being able to stand the pointed looks anymore, Liz stood from her seated position and walked into the bathroom. Closing the door behind her, a new wave of low self-esteem crashed over her as she saw her own pale face staring back at her in the mirror. Her eyes were large and red and her face seemed puffy in places it shouldn't be puffy.

"Oh God," she murmured, new tears falling down her cheeks as she bent over the sink.

She hated feeling like a martyr. She hated being this pathetic, but the evidence was literally staring her straight in the face on this one.

There was a knock on the door and Maria's muffled voice drifted across. "You okay?"

Liz tightened and relaxed her fists along the sides of her body, before she straightened up and opened the bathroom door. "What did he say?"

Maria looked at her concerned and answered, "He's coming over."

Liz felt her heart skip a beat. "He's what?"

"I told him that you were upset about something and that I thought you should tell him yourself what it was and he just said that he was coming over and hung up."

"Right," Liz sighed while her thoughts were running through what this meant. If Max was able to leave whatever he wasn't able to leave before, it more firmly supported that he might be unfaithful. If he had to work, he wouldn't be able to just leave. Would he?

There was a loud knock on the door, causing both Maria and Liz to jump.

Maria frowned. "That can't be him already."

Liz's frown matched her friend as they together walked towards the front door.

Maria barely had time to get the front door open before Max had pushed himself through. His worried flickering gaze fell on Liz and he rushed forward, cradling her face between his hands.

"Are you okay?" he asked breathlessly, his eyes moving quickly across her face to check for any clues as to what might be wrong.

His soft words and his worried eyes instantaneously fired the guilt inside of her and she suddenly felt herself teetering on the edge of apologizing and collapsing into his warm arms.

"No," she mumbled and pushed out of his arms. "Don't do that."

Max looked at her confused, his arms falling helplessly and limply down along the sides of his body. "Don't do what?"

"Don't confuse me with your words," Liz said, her voice trembling with anger and hurt.

Eyebrows furrowed, Max took a step forward and his body tensed as she took a responding step backwards. "What's wrong, Liz?"

"I saw you," Liz whispered and bit her bottom lip hard to prevent herself from shedding the tears that were threatening at the rim of her eyes.

"Saw me?" Max asked, looking at her like she was out of her mind.

Liz's hands moved down her abdomen, as if unconsciously protecting the life inside of her from whatever Max might say. "All those nights you've been away…where were you, Max?"

"Parker, what's this about?" Max asked, taking another step towards her.

"Don't come any closer!" she snapped as she felt the bookshelf press into her back. If he came any closer she wouldn't be able to think clearly. He would confuse her with his words and manipulate the truth. Like he had done when they were younger.

"You know where I am," Max said, his voice harder. "Either I'm working or I'm in class."

"I saw you," Liz sniffled, brushing a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand. "What's her name, Max? How long have you been with her?"

"Wh-?" Max looked at her completely confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You could've just told me," Liz sobbed brokenly. "You could've just told me that you didn't love me anymore and I could've moved on. Instead you have to break-"

Anger flashed across Max's face and he was suddenly very close to her, his hands gripping her tightly by the shoulders. "Liz! You're not making any sense. _I love you._"

"Don't lie to me!" she cried and pushed his hands away, but he grabbed a hold of her hand and pulled her back against his body.

"No, Liz. You're not running away until you tell me what you're going on about."

"Do you think I'm stupid?" _I should've known from the start that I could never hold down a guy like you_. "You don't want to have sex with me anymore," _I look horrible_ "and you're not ready for a family yet." _I don't want to lose you. I love you so much. I can't lose you. Please don't leave me._

He stared at her, his mouth drawn into a tight line while his breathing was deep and barely controlled. "Are you ever going to see past my history? Are you ever going to forgive me?"

"This isn't about that," she cried desperately. "This is about you having sex with someone else. About you cheating on me!"

His mouth opened to say something but closed again without a sound, his jaw tightening. "You saw something, did you?" he asked calmly. Much too calmly.

"I saw you with this pretty girl. At the café. You were laughing together. I saw you there when you were supposed to be at home with me!"

"That was Tara," Max said evenly. "She's in my class."

"And you would rather spend time with her than with me?" Liz stated sadly.

"You're being irrational," Max said.

"What does she mean to you?" Liz asked, looking up at him with rejected eyes that had a fire of protectiveness shoot through Max's heart.

He could tell her that she should trust him. That she was the one with the problem and that he shouldn't have to explain himself to her. But he knew Liz. Had known her for most of his life. And he knew that if he went down that road he could lose her forever.

That was not an option.

"I've spoken to her twice before," Max said. "We have a group assignment. 40% of the final grade. She's in my group. We were waiting for the third member to show up when I noticed that she was wearing a very nice ring. She told me that her boyfriend had just proposed to her the weekend before. That was probably what you saw, because just after that Tom arrived and we started discussing the project. That was what we were doing when Maria called me and told me that you were at her place and that something had happened."

Swallowing deeply, Liz dropped her eyes.

"She scared me half to death, Liz. _You_ scared me half to death. I thought something had happened to the baby. I thought something had happened to _you_. And this was it?" He held his arms out in resigned confusion. "_This_ is what made you so upset? Why didn't you come up and talk to me when you saw me? I would've introduced you to Tara. You would've seen that she wasn't a threat-"

"Did you even look at her, Max?" Liz whispered, feeling slightly guilty about what seemed to be the truth, but still being bothered by her feelings of abandonment. "She's gorgeous."

Max shook his head slowly. "I don't see anyone else but you."

Liz sniffled and laughed humorlessly. "What a line."

Max put his palm against the side of her neck to look her closely in the eyes. "It's not a line, kitten. I'm completely and utterly in love with you. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. Everything else is bleak in comparison. I miss you every single hour I'm away from you – and the baby." His eyes drifted to her pregnant shape and she trembled with the hope his words ignited in her. "I'm doing this for us. For our family. I don't _want to_ be away from you."

She felt stupid.

Her bottom lip trembled as she whispered, "You don't think I look like a cow?"

He knew better than to laugh at her, but a smile still pulled at the corners of his mouth as brushed the tears away from her cheek. "You're gorgeous."

"Then why won't you touch me?" Liz mumbled, her eyes large and hurt as she looked up at him.

His eyes shifted with frustration as he tried to understand the train of her thoughts. "I don't touch you?"

"I miss you," Liz whispered. "We haven't made love in a week."

"8 days, 7 hours," Max corrected and Liz face snapped up at him as her mouth fell open in shocked surprise.

"Max, I-" she stuttered, not sure anymore what to say.

Max's hands against her cheek silenced her. "You're exhausted, baby. Every night when I come home you're already asleep or barely coherent."

"Wake me up," Liz said quietly.

He smiled at her crookedly. "You want me to wake you up to have my way with you?"

"Yes," she whispered, almost fervently. "I need you. I barely see you anymore. I see you for like five seconds in the morning and a couple of seconds during night if I wake up to find you next to me."

Max leaned his forehead against hers, looking deep into her eyes. "I love you."

Her voice hitched on a restrained sob. "And I love you."

"I solemnly swear to from now on to make you as sleep deprived as possible through uncountable sexual activities," Max murmured, completely serious.

Liz felt a rush of desire flush her from top to toe and she smiled weakly, "Uhm…okay."

"But on one condition," Max said softly, his breath caressing her face. He continued before she had time to answer, "Could you please try to restrict these hormonal mood swings to a minimum?"

The warm feeling was gone and Liz narrowed her eyes at him, which had him laughing softly and pulling her in for a deep kiss which effectively cut off what she was about to say.

Max loved seeing his wife pregnant, but he still couldn't help but look forward to when she would leave that hormonal battlefield behind her.

Pulling back, he searched her eyes. "Are we okay?"

Looking at him sadly, she whispered, "I'm just alone."

He brushed at a strand of hair whisking against her cheek. "Kitten, I-"

"I'm sorry," she interrupted. "I'm sorry for not trusting you, for jumping to conclusions. I'm just… so afraid that you will…leave."

She closed her eyes at this, knowing how much it frustrated him that she still didn't believe he would stick around.

"Let's go home," he whispered.

She cautiously opened her eyes and peered at him. Noticing the tense line of his jaw she knew that she was in trouble. "Maybe you should go back. You have that group assign-"

His hand found hers and he grabbed it tightly. "No." There was a resolution in his voice that she didn't dare to argue with. "You're coming home with me and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make you understand that I'm not leaving you."

"Wh-whatever it takes?" she stuttered.

Her breath hitched in her throat as he leaned in close, his breath caressing her face as he whispered hotly, "Whatever it takes."

A tremble of desire ripped through her and blackness flashed across his eyes as he saw that he was getting the message through.

Maria's voice broke through the thick sexual tension. "Are you okay?"

Without looking at her, his eyes holding onto Liz's tightly, Max answered, "We're fine. Thanks, Maria."

Taking a step back, he pulled at Liz's hand. "We're gonna leave now."

Maria looked suspiciously between the couple. How Liz was staring almost transfixed at Max and how he was possessively wrapped his arm around her waist to mould her shape against his side.

"Are you sure?" she wondered, a small smile creeping into her voice. Liz was so gonna get laid. Maria was sure of it.

"Yeah, thank you, Maria," Liz said, her voice monotone and dazed as she stumbled along Max towards the front door.

"Okay," Maria said more cheerfully now. "Have fun!"

Max stopped with his hand on the door handle and momentarily looked away from Liz to meet Maria's eyes. "Oh, we will."

Maria rolled her eyes and closed the door behind them.

"Those two are crazy," she mumbled under her breath.

TBC...


	39. Where I Stood

**38. Where I Stood**

Kyle Valenti's Residence  
(2007) Max is 22, Liz is 21

One week before _**Betrayed**_

_I don't know what I've done  
Or if I like what I've begun  
But something told me to run  
And honey you know me it's all or none_

Liz sighed deeply as she put tired arms around Sean's neck and leaned her cheek against his chest.

"You okay?" Sean's voice drifted across her ear.

"So tired," she mumbled, but her feet kept moving to the music. The throbbing, tinnitus-inducing music that served to mentally numb her rather than make her want to party.

She'd had three exams over the past week and two major assignments due. She was horribly sleep-deprived, having barely gotten more than a total of seven hours of sleep the last four nights.

But instead of crawling into bed when she had come home after her last exam earlier that day, she had been assaulted by the strongest urge to get out of the house. She'd looked at her room and she'd felt nauseous. She'd had the desperate need to get out of the place that had served as her prison the last couple of weeks.

And Kyle Valenti had conveniently thrown a party on the night of her last exam.

Now she was dangerously close to falling asleep on the living room floor that was serving as dance floor. Sean's arms were probably the only thing preventing her body from crashing to the floor.

Sean kissed her temple. "You wanna go home?"

Liz shook her head. From the way his wandering hands were groping her, she had a fair idea of what Sean wanted to do if they went home.

And she really wasn't up to that in her current comatose state of mind.

Even if that hadn't been the case, she wasn't prepared to go home yet. Max had been spending too much time at their apartment recently and she needed to get away from his penetrating glances that had guilt building in her throat, threatening to suffocate her.

More than once had she wondered why he kept coming by; was he really that intent on making her feel horrible?

Which only served to anger her even more. He had no right to make her feel guilty about the situation. That night was a mistake and they both knew it. He had no right to act like an injured puppy and try and fool her into thinking that the night had meant more to him than it should have done to the typical Max Evans.

"Are you still with me?" Sean asked, his fingers trailing under the lining of her low-riding jeans.

She nodded against his chest and opened her mouth to answer him but her words got stuck in her throat as she saw Max walk in through the door, his hand connected to the hand of a petite blonde.

Liz felt a shiver of jealousy run through her and could practically feel her face harden. As numbing sensations that could only be described as scolding pins and needles exploded in her breast, possibly as a result of her heart being grinded into miniscule pieces, her eyes tracked his arrival into the house. She watched what his hands did and didn't touch on that blonde, her cheeks getting hotter with each whisper of his hand across the small of her back, against her bare arm or his fingers brushing through the hair that was so different from hers.

But even as the dark emotions clouded her vision, she didn't fail to detect the invisible border between Max and the girl clearly indicating that they were still getting to know each other. Which wasn't such a big surprise. With the amount of time Max had been spending at the apartment recently, he couldn't have been involved in a relationship at the same time.

Then their eyes met and she watched him freeze. He was still as stone for about five seconds, before he cocked his head to the side and smirked at her.

_Smirked_.

Liz narrowed her eyes and automatically pressed herself closer against Sean's body. She was vaguely aware of his fingers tracing the skin on the small of her back underneath her top as her eyes remained connected with Max's. She watched his eyes darken and, while he could just as well have reached into her chest and painfully squeezed her heart, his arm folded around the girl's waist and pulled her against his side.

His eyes still locked with Liz's, he shaped his palm around the back of the blonde's head and pulled her lips against his. His eyes never left Liz's as his lips caressed the surprised but very willing girl's lips.

Liz tried to swallow the scolding heat in her throat and clawing for a solution she rose on the tip of her toes and pressed her lips hard against Sean's. She could tell that he was startled by her action, by the ferocity and the unrecognizable heat in a kiss that was reserved for someone else, but she was overcome with the desperate need to compete and win in whatever game Max had just started.

"Liz," Sean panted as she pulled away, but frowned as her eyes failed to meet his. Following the direction of her gaze, his hold tightened possessively around her waist as he saw Max making out with some blonde at the other end of the room.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Sean growled.

As his hold on her bordered on painful she looked up at her boyfriend. "What?"

Sean hitched his face into Max's direction and spit out, "Max Evans."

Feigning surprise, she returned her eyes to Max and felt the nausea rise in her throat as she watched Max guide the girl onto the dance floor, his hands wandering idly over her body.

Liz shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Really?" Sean bit out, which had Liz looking at him in confusion.

"What?"

"You were looking at him," Sean said, his eyes pitch dark with jealousy.

Liz felt fresh anger tumble with the anger created by Max's presence and she forcibly pulled out of her boyfriend's hold. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Why are you so fucking interested in his comings and goings?" Sean growled.

Liz's mouth fell open in muted shock. "_I'm_ interested in his comings and goings? Who's the one that is getting his knickers in a twist about him being here right now?"

Sean snorted. "You think you've got me fooled, don't you? You think I don't see what's going on?"

When she didn't reply, he took a hold of her upper arms and shook her small frame hard. "_Huh?_"

"_Get your hands off me!_" Liz screamed, causing the dancing couples closest to them to stop their dancing and stare at them with curious eyes. Not having the energy or desire to argue this out with him in the middle of an overcrowded dance floor, Liz spun on her heels and squeezed herself through the throngs of people.

Pushing herself past one couple in the throws of heavy tongue-dueling and another couple in a heated discussion about the relevance of Sigmund Freud's theories, she stumbled into the kitchen.

She ripped open the door to the refrigerator and, as her hand closed around the neck of a beer bottle, his voice made her freeze. "Parker. Fancy meeting you here."

She took a deep breath to compose herself before she forcibly slammed the fridge door closed and slowly turned to face him. Her intentionally calming breath got stuck in her throat at the sight of him only inches away from her face.

He watched the color rise on her cheeks and a slow knowing grin spread across his lips. With years of practice, she quickly masked her emotions and said coldly, "Didn't your parents ever tell you about the concept of personal space?"

His grin still present, he just looked at her for another couple of seconds in silence, while her lips tightened along with the rest of her body. His body moved in what she thought would be a movement away from her, but she inhaled sharply as he stepped even closer to her, his face just a breath away from hers.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked breathlessly.

His gaze slowly raked down her face, making her tremble. She could feel the heat from his body and she had stopped breathing a long time ago out of fear that that action alone would make her body brush against his.

She watched him slowly lick his lips, his eyes focusing on her lips, and her legs started to feel weak with the hope that he might kiss her. She wanted him to kiss her. She felt like she would die if he didn't. But at the same time her eyes were begging him not to. She had been fighting so hard to push him away. He couldn't do this. Ruin it all in one second.

One delicious second.

"Don't flatter yourself," Max whispered as he saw her eyes travel to his mouth and she gasped as the inside of his elbow brushed against the side of her breast when his arm snaked around her body.

Air flowed into her airways again as she heard the refrigerator door open behind her.

_Right. Beer_, she thought as he finally stepped away from her, beer bottle in hand.

Taking a swig of his beer, Max leaned against the counter and looked at her with something indescribable in his eyes. "So, I thought you would be in bed by now."

"I thought you were going to watch Star Wars with Mike tonight," she said with an edge to her voice, shrugged and added with a sweet smile. "I guess we were both wrong."

"Edgy tonight, are we?" Max asked, but his tone didn't hold the same amused quality like it by convention should've.

Ignoring his comment, Liz clipped, "What are you doing here anyway?"

"It's a free country."

"I thought you hated Kyle."

"Music. Free booze. What's there to hate?"

"Didn't you have that big fight in high school? Over some girl? You almost killed each other."

Come to think of it, she had never really figured out which girl Max had almost put himself in the hospital for.

"That's old."

Changing the topic, she tried to be casual as she asked, "Who's the girl?"

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "So you noticed, huh?"

"The tonsil examination? I was trying to not choke on my own bile."

He put his head to the side and regarded her calmly. "Jealous?"

She huffed, her voice sarcastic as she bit out, "Extremely."

"Just say the word, Parker, and I'm yours."

His voice was casual, but his words so loaded that she shivered with the desire pushing through her.

She swallowed, her voice not as strong as she wanted it to be as she said, "Funny."

"Max?"

They both registered the voice, but neither acknowledged the owner of it as they continued to stare at each other in something that could only be defined as a challenge.

It was not until the girl came up and put her hand on Max's arm that they both turned to look at the interrupter.

As soon as they broke eye-contact the mood changed. Max smiled brightly and put his arm around the girl, pulling her into his side.

Hitching his chin into Liz's direction he introduced, "Tiffany – Liz. Liz – Tiffany."

Tiffany gave Liz a suspicious glance as her lips curled in a slow smile. "Hey."

Liz forced herself to smile. "Hey."

"So…you guys know each other?" Tiffany asked, picking up on the tension between the Liz and Max.

"Yeah," Liz murmured, trying to stop her eyes from tracking back to where Max's fingers were caressing the exposed skin of Tiffany's waist.

"You've met Mike, right?" Max said and Tiffany nodded in recognition. "Liz is Mike's sister."

Tiffany's face shone up as if that piece of information immediately placed Liz in a non-threatening category. "Oh, did you guys grow up together or something?"

Liz dark eyes met Max's grinning ones as he answered, "Something like that," his tone dripping with underlying messages that went utterly unnoticed by Tiffany.

"Are there any more of those?" Tiffany inclined towards the beer bottle in Liz's hand.

Liz felt like she couldn't breathe. Watching Max and Tiffany interact in combination with Max's not so subtle caresses made her feel like she was suffocating.

"Sure," Liz answered tightly and pulled the fridge door open behind her.

Handing the bottle over, she added quietly, "Excuse me."

"Is she okay?" Liz heard Tiffany ask as she pushed through the dancing bodies, enveloping herself in the deafening music.

Out. Out. She needed to get out.

She pushed through the front door, stumbled over a couple that had taken to sitting down in the doorway to smoke marijuana, and took a deep breath of the black night air.

Fifteen minutes of sitting on the stairs, someone sat down next to her. She looked over to see Sean.

"Hey," he said, his expression guarded, awaiting her reaction.

She was surprised to see him. She thought he had gone home. "Hey."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to yell at you."

She dropped her head, avoiding his eyes. "That's okay."

"I guess I just…" he shook his head as if the action would jumble his thoughts into the correct order. "It's just Max Evans, you know. I don't like the way he is around you."

"I know," she mumbled.

"Doesn't it bother you?" he asked.

Squinting her eyes in confusion, she looked over at him. "What do you mean?"

"You know, how he always stares at you."

She laughed, the laughter sounding mildly fake even to her own ears. "He doesn't stare at me. Where do you get off thinking that?"

She could feel his hard stare at the side of her head as he formulated his next sentence. "Why don't you just tell him to fuck off?"

Liz sighed. "He doesn't bother me, Sean."

"He upsets you."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because you act differently when he's around."

"Since when are you so perceptive?"

"Do you even like me?"

Liz head snapped into his direction, her mouth falling open. "What?"

Sean looked slightly nauseous. "Sometimes it feels like you hate me."

"What?" Liz repeated, because she couldn't get her mind to grab onto any other words.

"Most of the time when we hang out, we watch movies or I watch you study or something-"

"Please, Sean," Liz said, her tone hinting that he was being ridiculous.

"And it's kinda like I have to force you to have sex with me."

She laughed, partly as an instinctive response, partly to cover up the truth in his words. "Of course I like you, Sean."

"But you don't love me."

"I-I…" she stuttered.

"Don't hurt yourself," he said darkly.

Liz shot to her feet, pushing her hands through her hair. "Fuck Sean. Come on. You know how tired I am! Do you have to have a conversation like this with me when I'm dead on my feet at two in the morning?"

He looked up at her for a second, unaware of the silent pleading in her mind for him to leave it alone.

"Fine," he sighed and slowly rose to his feet. "Let's dance. Or are you too tired-"

"Let's dance," Liz interrupted, grabbing his hand and smiling at him as thanks for dropping the subject.

---------------------------------------------------------

**Two hours later**

After going through a major brain dead phase one hour earlier, Liz was running on pure sugar from the numerous amounts of sodas she had consumed. After realizing that the beer had been making her even more tired, she had quickly steered away from them in favor to Coke and Red Bull. The party was picking up and after their fight, she and Sean had been having a lot of fun.

She had seen Max around, dancing with his blonde, drinking beers, but she had made an effort to erase him from her peripheral field of vision.

All in all, it was looking up.

But all that soda meant frequent visits to the bathroom. Reapplying the peach lip gloss in front of the mirror after her seventh trip to the bathroom, she tried to ignore the obvious dark circles under her eyes. She wasn't ready to go home yet. She wanted to party herself to exhaustion and then sleep through the weekend.

That was her plan.

Pushing through the bathroom door, her attention was on operating the zipper to her hand bag to put her lip gloss back as she walked down the hallway. Not seeing where she was going, her walk was halted by a body.

"Sorry," she mumbled, glancing up from her bag, only to stare straight into familiar honey-colored eyes.

"Parker," he stated, his eyes dark but unfocused.

"Evans," she retorted in the same tone of voice.

"Where're you going?" he asked, his facial expression hard.

She frowned. "Not like it's any of your business, but downstairs."

"Where's your boyfriend?"

"Where's your girlfriend?"

"Around here somewhere."

"You lost her already?"

"She's free to go where she wants. I'm surprised Le Boyfriend let you out of his sight."

She straightened and asked annoyed, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Max shrugged. "He seems to think that he owns you, that's all."

"He's looking after me," Liz replied.

"You think that's _caring_?" he asked incredulously.

"At least he sticks around."

Max's expression darkened. "And I don't? Is that what you're trying to say?"

"I was talking about Sean."

Max took a step closer, ignoring her previous comment, "I've been trying to stick around, but it's fucking difficult when you keep slipping away."

Smelling the alcohol on his breath, she took a step back to get out of his stormy face. Her heart was pounding hard against her ribcage. "You're drunk."

"So?"

"I don't want to talk to you when you're drunk."

"Oh," he snorted. "As opposed to all the times you _do_ want to talk to me?"

"Fuck you," she mumbled and tried to step past him.

His hand reached out and grabbed her upper arm causing her to whimper in pain. "Do you love him?"

"Max, let go," she said between gritted teeth.

His hold tightened and she tried to pull away from him. "Do you?"

"Max, you're hurting me."

Her words cut through the alcoholic daze and he released his grip on her like he had been burnt. His voice softening some, he repeated, "Do you?"

"Leave me alone," she said thickly.

"He's gonna hurt you."

She shook her head, a determined look on her face. "No, he's not."

"He doesn't deserve you," Max insisted.

"Well, thank God I have you to defend my honor then," Liz announced sarcastically.

"I'm serious," he said.

Turning to face him fully, she looked him straight in the eye as she said, "So am I. Leave. Me. Alone."

With that she disappeared down the stairs, leaving Max staring after her.

"I can't," he mumbled quietly before taking another mouthful of his beer bottle.

TBC...

_Text in the beginning from __**Missy Higgin's "Where I stood"**_


	40. White Flag

**39. White Flag**

The Dog Kennel  
(2008) Max is 23, Liz is 22

"Where is she?"

Serena looked up from the computer screen and met Max's worried eyes. "That was fast."

"Serena," Max said impatiently, "Please…"

Serena nodded and rose from her chair. "She's in Dog Ward C."

"Which is…?" Max implored and Serena smiled softly.

"Don't worry. I'll take you there."

"What happened?" Max asked, wasting no time as they walked towards the dog wards.

"She left when her shift was over, as usual," Serena answered, "And returned one hour later."

"Did she say why?"

Serena shook her head. "I tried asking her, but she wouldn't answer me. I'm not sure if she was upset or…"

"What?" Max asked, fear coursing through him, lacing his worry.

"She wasn't crying," Serena said, opening the main door to the wards. "She was just staring straight ahead. Didn't say a word. I followed her into the wards and tried to get some information out of her. When I couldn't, I decided to call you."

"What's she doing in the dog ward?" Max asked confused, his steps picking up in speed.

Serena put a hand on his arm and stopped him. "Max. Wait."

Frustration was rolling off him in waves as he looked at Serena and he had to struggle not to snap at her. Concern for Liz was making him come loose at the seams. Keeping his voice level, he asked, "What is it, Serena?"

"There's something really wrong. I haven't known her for very long, but she's _never_ this quiet."

Max took a deep breath and murmured, "I know."

"What happened, Max? Did you get into another fight?"

Max looked at her and whispered, "I told her."

"Told her wh…" her voice drowned in the realization of what he was saying, "You told her that you're in love with her?"

Max nodded.

"And that's why she's upset? God, Max. How exactly did you break it to her?"

Max shook his head. "No… No, she was fine when I left her this morning."

Serena's eyes widened and she whispered sharply, "She spent the night?" Shaking her head warily, she added, "Max, that's really not-"

Max stopped her before she could form any more preconceived ideas, "Nothing happened, Serena."

She took a second to evaluate the truth in his eyes before taking a deep relieved breath. "Good. Good. So how did it go?"

"Really good actually. She…she took it really well. We talked all night."

Serena's face brightened with happiness for her friend. "That's good, Max. That's really good."

"She left for work and we were fine then."

"Okay," Serena said, straightening while collecting her thoughts. "I guess you need to talk to her."

Before Max could voice the obvious answer, Serena nodded to herself and pushed the door to Dog Ward C open.

It took Max some time to find her, because to be honest, he wasn't really expecting to find her in one of the animal cages.

"She's right in there," Serena said softly and pointed to a 6 by 3 feet cage.

Max bent his head to look into the cage and found Liz curled up on her side, her face buried in the fur of a Golden Retriever.

She appeared asleep.

"I'll leave you two alone," Serena whispered and Max nodded his thanks.

Hunching down, Max pushed up the latch on the cage and opened the door. The dog moved, his tail starting to wag slightly.

"Quiet boy," Max whispered in attempt to stop the dog from rushing up to greet him.

He reached out to softly brush her cheek with the back of his hand, feeling the dried tear tracks on her skin.

"Kitten," he whispered.

"Go away, Max," she answered without opening her eyes.

Max's voice was low close to her ear. "No, I won't."

She sighed and curled her body further around the warm furry body of the Golden retriever, the movement causing the dog to turn around and give her a supporting lick across her cheek.

"No, Benny," she murmured, but didn't attempt to push him away.

"What happened?" Max asked, taking a seat on the concrete floor, straight in front of her face.

"Can we please not talk about it?" she murmured. "I just wanna stay here."

He frowned. "Lizzie, you can't stay here. You're in a dog ward."

She sniffled and squeezed her lips together, as if fighting off tears. "I'm with Benny. He doesn't ask any questions."

If circumstances had been different, he probably would've smiled at her grumpy statement, but he was too worried about her to find anything about this situation amusing.

"Is it Michael?"

She sighed deeply. "I don't want to talk about it."

Knowing that he was on the right track, Max pressed, "What did he do?"

Her eyes sprung open and she looked at him irritated. "God Max, could you let it go already? I don't want to talk about it."

"You're just gonna let it fester inside of you instead while you spend the night in an animal cage?" Max asked humorlessly.

"As a matter of fact; yes," Liz answered stubbornly.

"Don't be ridiculous," Max said. "What did he say?"

"That you were no good," she answered, gathering handfuls of Benny's fur as she tried to keep her voice steady.

"We kinda expected that," Max said calmly. "Don't listen to him. He's upset right now-"

"I don't like it when he yells at me, okay?" Liz snapped, squeezing her eyes shut in regret as she heard the angry tone of her voice. She really didn't want to take it out on Max. She was just so frustrated right now.

"Sorry," she murmured.

Max sighed. "Let's go and talk to him."

Her eyes snapped open and the word fumbled across her lips, "What?"

"This is stupid. If we're gonna be together we have to talk to him about it. He's acting like a baby-"

"I can kinda see why," Liz interrupted.

"Yes," Max agreed. "He's angry with me. But he shouldn't take it out on you."

"I'm part of it."

"It's not your fault that I'm a…player."

"But you're not," Liz objected. "Isn't that what you told me last night?"

"He doesn't know that. He knows just as much as _you_ knew twenty-four hours ago."

"It's still too fresh, he won't listen to you," Liz protested stubbornly.

Max narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you so against this?"

"Against what?" she sighed.

"About fixing this."

"Can't we just wait?"

"He already knows about it anyway. What good will waiting do? If anything, it will only make it worse."

"He will have time to calm down and think about it."

"Which has two possible outcomes; One, he'll realize that he's overreacting and will be fine with it. Or two, he's gonna think that we have more to hide just because we're not discussing it with him. And knowing Mike, I'm opting for number two."

Liz squeezed her eyes shut again. "I don't want to. Not right now."

She was acting like a stubborn child that didn't want to brush her teeth before going to bed, but the memory of how disappointed Michael had looked at her just an hour earlier when she had told him where she had spent the night was still burning freshly in her mind.

"Liz," Max said quietly and gently separated the fingers of her right hand from Benny's fur to grab her hand in his. "I'll be right there with you."

"Then _you_ go," Liz mumbled. "I've already talked to him."

"I think it's better if you're there too," Max said.

"So he won't smash you in pieces?"

Max smiled sadly. "He might do that anyway… I think it's better if he can see that we are serious and for that both of us need to be there. You can't run away now, Liz. Do you want this?"

She frowned at his question and looked up at him. "Of course. I want to be with you, Max."

"Then fight for it," he answered, his eyes challenging the fighting streak in her.

"He said that I was confused," Liz whispered. "That I didn't know what love was, judging from my bad choice of boyfriends before."

"Which is why we need to talk to him," Max said.

Turning pleading eyes to him, she practically begged, "Can't we just go back to your apartment and watch a movie or something?"

"And pretend like the outside world doesn't exist?" Max added.

She nodded, almost eagerly, and he smiled softly. "Kitten, you have no idea how much I would love to do that right now, but I don't want to lose Michael as a friend and I have a feeling I will if I don't talk to him right now."

She read the seriousness in his eyes and sighed heavily. "Fine."

------------------------------------------------------

**One hour later  
The Apartment**

Michael's face turned murderous as his eyes landed on Max's on the other side of the door. "Get the fuck away from here."

Max looked at him with an exterior of calmness while feelings of disappointment raged inside of him. "We need to talk."

Without removing his intimidating eyes from Max's face, Michael addressed his baby sister. "If you want him to live, I suggest you tell him that it's in his best interest to leave right now." Michael tried his best to ignore how his sister was tightly holding onto Max's hand and how the side of her body was leaning into him.

There was just something disturbing about Max Evans' dirty fingers on Liz's body.

He tried to ignore her pleading eyes which he could feel at the side of his face. "Please Michael."

"Don't do this to her, Mike," Max said quietly.

Michael's jaw tensed and Liz body tightened in fear at the sight. Desperation mixed with fear as her voice cut through the tension, aiming the full range of emotion at her stubborn brother. "Could you stop being such an asshole for a second?!"

"Just tell me one thing, Evans," Michael spit out, venom dripping off every syllable as he ignored his sister. "What are you gonna do when you lose interest in her?"

Liz swallowed as Michael's words struck a painful cord in her. Unconsciously, she took a step away from Max's body. The tightening of his hand around hers stopped her.

"She means more to me than that," Max responded, his facial expressions carefully controlled.

"Oh?" Michael raised an eyebrow. "Just like Tess?"

Max's free hand clenched in a hard fist. "Tess has nothing to do with this."

"I thought you loved Tess."

Anger was slowly chipping away at Max's carefully controlled features. "Why are you bringing Tess into this?"

"Because she's the only girl you've been with for more than one hour," Michael bit out. "Who you said you loved and then…wait, you broke up with her, didn't you?"

"Don't be an idiot, Mike," Max warned darkly.

Michael's face darkened and he took a step closer to Max, his slightly taller frame towering over his best friend. "I'm the idiot? You're the one that thought you could be with my sister and I would just be okay with it. I'm sorry, but I think that makes _you_ the idiot."

"That person you keep insinuating about doesn't exist anymore."

Michael's face darkened with feigned insight. "Oh… So when you decided to put your filthy fucking hands on Liz you were a changed man? When you had sex with her and then left her the day after-"

"I didn't leave her," Max snapped.

"-you were the perfect gentleman. And when you continued to make fun of her, make her look like an idiot and flaunt all your conquests in her face for four fucking years you were only looking out for her?"

"You're twisting it, man, and you know it."

"No, Max." Michael took a deep breath, the only external testament of his anger was the way his hand tightened around the side of the opened door until his knuckles were white. "This is how I see it. You started fucking around as soon as you discovered the difference between girls and boys. You screw them and leave them not caring about if you might be breaking someone's heart. All the while you lust after my sister, just because she's the only one you can't have. To punish her for not giving in to your fucking charms or whatever, you keep shoving all your victims down her throat, making her feel like crap."

Max face gradually blanched as he listened to Michael's monologue, realizing that his best friend might not have been as blind through all these years as he'd appeared to be. His heart rate broke out into a rhythm of bordering panic as Liz pulled her hand out of his and before he could stop her, she took two steps away from him, folding her arms tightly around her middle as her head dropped away from his worrying eyes.

Noticing the interaction between the newly-formed couple, Michael couldn't prevent the triumphant edge from slipping into his voice. "When she finally gives in, you turn her first time into a one-night stand and when she tries to go on with her life you keep on tormenting her. Interfering with her relationship with that fuckwit Sean."

"Michael, you've got it all-"

"And then all of the sudden, she forgives you. Excuse me if I find it hard to believe that you are suddenly a changed man just because she suddenly forgave you or something."

Max was trying to ignore the huddle silhouette of Liz in the corner of his eyes, even as his hands were itching to pull her into his arms and let his lips soothe her fears away. Instead he leveled Mike with a dark look. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"You think I haven't witnessed your little cat and mouse game? You're a fucking predator, Max. What pisses me off the most is that she probably felt like she didn't have a choice but to give in to you."

Max's hands flew up to grab Michael's shirt in the fraction of a second, slamming him up against the opened door, which gave away behind them until both the door and Michael was pushed up against the wall. "_Shut the fuck up!_"

Michael grimaced as the edge of the door pressed painfully against his spine. "Getting a little bit too close to the truth for comfort, eh?"

"Tell me, Michael," Max spit out, his face merely an inch from Michael's, his head casting a dangerous shadow across Michael's face. "If you knew how badly I treated her, why didn't you ever stop it? Why didn't you try to defend your little sister?"

Guilt flickered in Michael's eyes before they narrowed in defense. "Because for some odd reason, I guess I was hoping you were just joking. I managed to fool myself into thinking that I was probably just overreacting and that my best friend would never do anything to hurt my little sister."

"That's your excuse?" Max whispered hotly.

Michael snapped his head closer to Max, his eyes flashing with anger as he clipped, "What's_your_ excuse?"

"Please stop," Liz's sobbing voice begged beside them, momentarily pulling both boys out of their cocoon of hatred and blame. "Could we please have a conversation without you killing each other?"

Max inhaled sharply at her voice, willed his hands to release their grip on Michael's shirt and take a step back. His voice was softer as he said, "I've been in love with her ever since that time she went to the hospital."

Michael paused as his mind made a mental inventory of the time when Liz had broken her ankle at the age of 12, his breathing still harsh in his lungs from trying to stop himself from beating Max into a bloody pulp.

"I never knew what to do about it," Max continued, feeling Liz's wide surprised eyes on the side of his face. "I mean, she was my best friend's sister. She was annoying, always in my face, always a smartass and always ruining our games."

The anger was slowly seeping out of Michael, like a slowly deflating balloon. He looked over at Liz. His little sister. The only good part of his family. He watched her eyes shimmer with restrained tears, her hands shake with emotions, her gaze fixed on Max's bowed head as she listened intently to his every word. Michael swallowed as an undefined emotion clenched his heart painfully.

He saw it then.

He could read on his sister's face everything she was feeling. Everything she didn't want anyone else to see she was feeling. He could see the hurt, the hope, the love. All tangled up and aimed at his best friend. All these years Michael had focused his energy on Max. He had blamed Max for being mean to his sister. He had seen Max as the predator and Liz as the unwilling prey. He had been so mixed up in his belief that Max was the villain because of his playboy status that he had failed to recognize that his sister had played a big part in it.

Memories flooded through his mind, reminding him of events that had previously been black and white. He saw the pain in Liz's eyes as he had forced her to watch a movie with him, Max and Tess. A pain he hadn't noticed before. He now understood why Liz had exploded that night, why she had locked herself in her room and why she had looked like she had just had the night from hell when she walked out of her room the morning after.

He understood her facial expressions as she would glance over at Max while the three of them would be having yet another of their movie nights. Michael could now see the longing, beautifully and intrinsically tied up with pain, written all across her face as Max would turn to look at her.

Liz had been in on it the entire time. She had played her fair parts of predator as well as they continued to dance around each other and further break each other down.

"In the beginning I hated it. I hated feeling dependent on her. I hated zoning out staring at her, not being able to concentrate when she would touch my hand or even hit me."

Liz blinked, afraid to breathe in case the act would somehow disrupt the image Max's words made of a tortured, guilt-ridden, wounded animal curled up inside himself while his raw voice exposed himself to Michael in a desperate attempt to gain Michael's acceptance.

It struck Liz like a blow to the stomach how much the friendship between her brother and Max really meant to Max. Why Max had been so intent on dragging her along here, to try and make things right. But in his voice, she could also hear the need to repair something that might've been broken between Michael and Liz. The fact that Max would go through all of this just to make sure that Liz wouldn't lose her brother, instead of doing what Liz wanted to do – run away, made her heart overflow with emotions.

"So I tried to show off. But it kept on backfiring. It seemed like the more I tried to be cool in her eyes, the more she hated me."

Michael looked over at his sister who was now smiling softly. Taking a mental breath, Michael decided to try and push his hurt ego and pride to the side and offered, "Who can blame her?"

Max looked up for the first time since letting go of Michael's shirt, shocked surprise widened his eyes at the amusement in Michael's voice, at the olive branch being stretched as a peace offering out across their differences.

Max swallowed deeply, making sure he had eye-contact with Michael before continuing. "I won't deny that I've made some pretty fucked up life decisions." Michael snorted at the understatement. "And I still don't think I deserve your sister. I mean, if someone like me had started going out with her, I would've killed him."

Michael covered a chuckle by clearing his throat. "I hear you."

"But someone told me that I needed to stop torturing myself, owe up to my mistakes and tell Liz how I really feel."

"Maria?" Michael wondered.

Max shook his head. "Actually, for once, no."

Straightening, Michael glanced over at Liz's pale face, met her cautious eyes, and sighed. "Just tell me one thing."

"Anything," Max whispered.

"Do you love her?"

There was not a hint of hesitation as Max smiled softly and answered what his smile had already answered for him, "Yes."

"You're not screwing with me? Because I swear to God I'll fucking kill you."

Max bit back a laugh at the turbulent emotions flickering across Michael's face making him look comically intimidating. Now was really not the time to laugh. "I've loved her for most of my life, Mike. I'm not gonna stop now that I finally have her."

Michael looked between his sister and his – still – best friend and sighed reluctantly. "I'm not very happy about how you've treated her in the past. I'm still not really sure how I feel about this whole situation." In utter seriousness, he added, "I still feel like killing you, so I recommend you stay away from me for a couple of days. And if I see you touching my sister in any more-than-a-friend type of way I might just hit you with a shovel. You've been warned."

"I won't hurt her anymore, Michael," Max said quietly, but conviction ringing loud and clear in his voice. "And I will wait until we leave the apartment before I kiss the daylights out of her."

Michael's eyes darkened as he mumbled grimly, "Too early, dude."

Max grimaced. "Sorry."

Liz looked at the two most important men in her life. "Are you serious? We're okay?"

Michael nodded grudgingly, his halfhearted response causing Liz to walk up to him and throw tight arms around his neck. She kissed him on the cheek and pressed him close to her. Her whispered voice was full of gratitude. "Thank you."

"I need time, sis," Michael said, his body relaxing as Liz's hug spread waves of love through him. "I'm still not too happy about this."

"But you're gonna let him live?" Liz whispered, managing to keep the smile out of her voice.

"For now," Michael answered loud enough so that Max would hear him, sending Max a warning look over Liz's shoulder, along with his warning words. "But if he hurts you, he better have reliable contacts in the Witness Protection Program, because I'm gonna hunt him down."

Liz smiled against his shoulder. "Love you."

Michael sighed, planting a kiss on the side of her head. "Love you too, sis."

They all knew that everything was far from forgiven and forgotten. They were all painfully aware of the road ahead that needed to be treaded cautiously and the relationships that hung in weak balance.

But at least for now, truce had been made.

TBC...


	41. A Beautiful Mess

**40. A Beautiful Mess**

Kyle Valenti's Residence  
Max is 18, Liz is 17 (2003)

"Oh fuck."

Michael's subdued curse had Liz snap her head up from her preoccupation with the label on the beer bottle. This party truly and utterly sucked. She was so bored out of her mind that she was seriously considering chewing her arm off just so that she would have something to do.

What she witnessed as she brought herself out of her zoned out state sent shivers down her spine, making her knees week. Her hand tightened around the beer bottle as she sucked in a cold breath, trying to remain on her feet.

Someone was being dragged along the floor; his legs stumbling along weakly as he was held up by the supporting arms and bodies of two jocks. She could only see the top of the head of the debilitated person, but it was impossible for her not to recognize him instantaneously.

Frozen in cold panic, she watched Michael rush up to his best friend, take over the position of one of the jocks as a supporting pillar, sling one strong arm around the weak person's shoulders and press the other into the chest to prevent the person from losing his fight with gravity and tip forward.

Michael's grumble was loud and fearful, like a threatened dog. "What the hell happened?"

Feeling the dead weight of his friend slouching against his body, the only thing keeping Michael calm at that moment was the raspy sound of his friend's breaths echoing in his ears.

Liz remained frozen as Michael guided the prone body to the nearby couch, wordlessly watching the scene unfold as panic whispered and trickled through her like an insidious gas.

She flinched at Michael's sharp curse as the position on the couch revealed Max's beaten up face to him. But she was relying on her hearing at that point, the curious party guests having formed an impermeable circle around Max; efficiently keeping Liz firmly on the outside.

The air burned the inside of her throat as she pulled harsh breaths into her lungs. The harder she breathed the less air she seemed to be getting. Her fingers tightened convulsively around the beer bottle as the world started to swim in front of her.

"Lizzie!"

The tilting world snapped back onto its correct axis and she inhaled shakily albeit deeply.

Her fingers were stiff and her knuckles white as she, with great conscious effort, removed them from their desperate hold on the bottle.

She was barely aware of pushing herself through the rows of people. Suddenly she was at Michael's side, staring down into Max's face.

The subsequent planned breath died on her lips as she felt the floor beneath her feet go unsteady.

"She's here, Max."

Michael's statement brought the world back into sharp clarity and she flicked her eyes into the direction of her brother for the split of a second, confusion settling across her features. Max's voice snapped her head back towards her life-long enemy's face.

"Parker?"

He was looking at her through narrow eyes, one already closing up as a result of a hard blow to the side of the face, another partly covered in caked blood from a wound on his forehead.

"You look like you've been to war," she breathed, confusion marring her voice as soon as the words started to leave her mouth. She frowned. _That_ was the first thing she said when a beaten up, barely conscious person tried talking to her?

She shook her head silently to herself; not only as a result of her weird mind processes but mostly in attempt to shake up her muffled emotions and thoughts.

She felt stagnant. Couldn't think. Couldn't act. The blood was rushing loudly in her ears and she had yet to look at anywhere except his eyes. She couldn't make herself pull her eyes from his. Because she wasn't sure she could handle seeing the full extent of what had happened to him.

"You can say that," Max mumbled, an attempted smile gracing his lips before a grimace of pain quickly took its place.

The flash of anger was sudden, exploding throughout every crevice of her body, ignited by the casual smile that had barely touched his face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" she erupted, causing an abrupt halt to the discussions held by the closest standing people. Slowly inching closer, an excited thrill moved through the crowd. This could be good.

Max opened his better eye and slowly licked his swollen lip. "There's nothing-"

Her fists curled into tight balls along her sides as her dark eyes dared him to act ignorant. "Is this another one of your damn pissing contest?! A fight about whose dick is the biggest? Huh?"

If his face hadn't been hurting so badly, he would've raised an eyebrow in amusement at her irritation. "Kitten. Calm down."

"Don't tell me to fucking calm down!"

Michael stared at his baby sister. "Take it down a notch, Lizzie."

Liz didn't even hear him. Her complete attention was on Max. "How does it feel, Evans? Does it make you feel manly?"

He tried, fruitlessly, to roll his eyes. "Chill, Li-"

"Because that's why you did it, isn't it? You tried to get yourself killed? Over what? What is so fucking important for you to get your head bashed in?"

His smile came out crooked. "You should see the other guy."

She felt like screaming. Really screaming. A loud scream aimed at his thick caveman skull. "This isn't funny, Max!! Do you have any idea what you look like?"

"Believe me, I can feel it."

"I hope you can."

"I didn't ask for you to come over so you would have a fit."

Her mouth slammed shut and she swallowed her next words as the meaning of his reached her ears. Her eyes widened in disbelief, glittering with unshed tears of fear. "Oh…so why did you bring me over here, huh?" Her hand was shaking as she brushed a frustrated tear off her cheek. "You wanted me to congratulate you for being the biggest idiot in the univer-"

"Okay, that's enough," Max interrupted and sat up in the couch. All signs of smiling, of teasing, had evaporated from his face.

"Stay down, Evans," Michael said, only to once again be ignored.

"You think _you're_ so fucking perfect?" Max demanded.

Defensiveness squared her shoulders. "I don't go around punching people just to prove a point."

His voice was hard, mimicking the defensive tone in hers. "Neither do I!"

"Your face says differently," she said, aiming for smug but falling short at the expense of the shock of his condition still running through her.

"Why do you instantly think that it's _my_fault? How about exploring the facts before you go around accusing people?"

"Come on," she sighed, her eyes burning hotly. "It's you. Of course it's your fault."

She barely got the last word out before his hand wrapped tightly around her wrist. A whisper of anticipation rushed through the audience. Everyone at the party knew that Max, Michael and Liz spent a lot of time together. But the details of their little group had always remained fuzzy. To have the opportunity to witness a part of that relationship live was, in the eyes of the observers, fun. But then again, at a party where Danielle's story about how she ran over her own cat was the highlight, not much was needed to spark the interest of the guests.

Unaware of the show they were putting on, Max brought Liz stumbling forwards with a hard tug of his hand. His breath was hot against her face and she swallowed deeply at the sight of the blood on his face.

"Do you want to know what happened?"

Liz stubbornly bit her lips tightly together, ignoring his feverish question. Tried to ignore the way his eyes were boring into hers, making her heart stumble in her chest. There was a sudden danger around him, an aura that made a blush rise on her cheeks, and her legs, for the third time that night, turn unsteady.

"Why did you ask for me?"

Annoyance screamed at her in his eyes as she obstinately refused to let him tell her what had happened. But he was pretty good at ignoring her as well. "I was minding my own business when Kyle-"

"Let her go, Evans," Michael interrupted, his hands strong on top of the hand that was firmly wrapped around Liz's small wrist.

Max's hand flung out, pushing a surprised Michael a step back and automatically releasing his hold on Liz. "Let me fucking talk, Mike!"

Darkness simmered in Michael's eyes as he watched Max return his attention to his sister. Before Max even had the chance to consider what his next word to Liz was going to be, Michael had grabbed Max's arm and was pulling him off the couch.

"What the-"

"You're drunk," Michael stated grimly, his hands shaking in their hold on Max's shirt in the wake of his repressed anger. "I don't want you talking to her when you're drunk. Especially not if you're gonna be an asshole."

Max opened his mouth to yet again protest, when Liz's loud voice cut him off. Her question was directed at Michael this time. "What was he doing, Mike?"

"Fuck," Max breathed, frustration rolling off him in waves. "What's wrong with you, woman? I'm trying to tell you but you don't want to know and then you ask Mike instead?"

Liz shrugged. "He won't lie."

"And I do?"

No hesitation. "Yes."

"I didn't see," Michael answered Liz's question.

Max ripped out of Michael's grip, stumbled slightly on unsteady feet supporting Michael's theory of his level of intoxication, glared firstly at his best friend and then the person he had ended up in this fight for. Not that he was gonna tell her that. She didn't need to know all the stuff Kyle was saying about her. Besides, he had taken good care of Kyle. Kyle wouldn't be saying another bad word about Liz for as long as he lived. Max sure had seen to that.

Now, if Liz could just get off her high horse and show some gratitude.

"I was defending someone, okay?" Max said tightly.

Liz's eyes widened mockingly. "Ooh. Was it her bra size?"

Max's ears went blood red as anger curled through him at her assumption. Trying to stomp down on the anger before he reached out and tried to shake some sense into her, his voice was quiet and eerily controlled as he said, "You really think that little of me?"

Maybe if he had understood where her anger stemmed from he would've seen straight through her. Maybe if he could see the fear that had paralyzed her as a result of his injuries, he would've regretted what he had done.

But this Max Evans lacked the Liz Parker Manual. He didn't understand that her anger was her way of dealing with the potential fear of him being beaten to death and so he couldn't understand why she wouldn't listen to his explanation.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think very highly of people that get their face smashed in just to impress a girl."

He looked at her dubiously. "That's what you think I was doing? Impressing a girl?"

Having seen – and heard – enough, Michael grabbed Max's elbow and started to pull him towards the front door. "Okay, that's enough."

Max stopped him, turning to face Liz, while his words were aimed at Michael. "No wait."

Michael's voice was as hard as his resolve. "Evans, you're leaving."

Max found Liz's eyes, confusion momentarily swimming through his muffled head as he noticed the tears lurking in their depths. Frowning, his next words were slightly slurred. "You comin'?"

She bit her lips tightly together, folding her arms equally tight around her body, and firmly shook her head.

Something he couldn't pinpoint flushed through Max at her stubborn silent protest and his eyes brushed across the blurred faces of the rest of the party participants. His body tightened as fear and worry curled into a tight ball in the pit of his stomach.

There was no way he was leaving her alone with all of those predators.

He probably knew more about how attractive Liz was to the outside world than she did. He probably knew more from the conversations he had overheard between testosterone-driven men just how vulnerable Liz was standing there in the middle of the room, her anger immediately translating into sex in the surrounding male teenagers' eyes.

There was no way he was leaving her alone.

Michael pulled on Max's arm, causing Max to momentarily stumble as his friend ripped him out of his thoughts. "Come on, man."

Max's head moved as quickly as his current condition allowed towards his friend, his face suddenly hiding any traces of alcohol. "We can't leave her here."

Michael, still annoyed with Max's prior treatment of his sister and currently seeing Max as the biggest threat to Liz, sighed. "Let her do what she wants."

"You can't decide what I should do," Liz added.

Max fought the chill rushing along his spine as he faced Liz. His intoxicated brain desperately tried to find the reasonable words he needed to convince her to leave. "Don't be ridiculous."

She looked at him irritated. "You think _you're_ the only reason I'm here?"

She was too angry to realize what she had just said. That she had basically just revealed that Max was _one_ of the reason she was actually attending that party.

Max was too much on the drunk side to notice her slip.

"So just because _you_ leave _I_ should leave?"

He sighed exasperatedly. "Just…for once. Okay? Just come home with us."

She took one long look at him and then turned and disappeared into the crowd.

"Fuck!" Max erupted, causing Michael – and some of the observers – to look at him oddly. Having suddenly forgotten that Michael was still holding onto him, Max took a determined step forward only to be snapped back against Michael.

"Let's go," Michael grunted. He was so over this by now. Looking after Max the drunk was very far from what Michael considered a fun Saturday.

"We can't leave her here," Max repeated his earlier words.

"She's a big girl," Michael responded. "She has her cell phone. If she needs something, she'll call."

"She's too young to be here."

"She's only one year younger than you."

Max shot him an angry look. "Why are you not worried? Don't you realize what could happen to a 17-year-old girl at a party like this?"

Something flickered across Michael's face, revealing that he hadn't realized. Not until Max not so subtly pointed it out.

To Michael, it was easy to forget that his stubborn, fiery little sister could be vulnerable. She was the strongest girl he knew. But Max had a point even though Michael sure wouldn't let Max know that.

Michael's voice was causal, bordering on bored, as he said with a sigh, "Fine. I'll go talk to her. But you stay here."

"I'm not a poodle," Max mumbled.

He didn't appreciate being bossed around. But he still nodded his agreement, realizing that Michael would have more success with Liz if Max wasn't there.

---------------------------------------------------------------

**The Parkers' Residence**

Michael had taken Max straight to his own home. Liz and Michael's parents were on one of their numerous vacations. This time they were shopping in Sydney, Australia. Michael had decided against taking Max home to his mother with how messed up his face was. It was not a good look to present to your mother.

Excluding some of the serving staff, the Parker mansion was empty. The sound of Liz's bedroom door slamming shut echoed through the large quiet house and Max and Michael shared an amused look. They had gotten Liz home alright, but at a price. The girl probably wouldn't talk to them for days.

Michael gestured down the long hallway. "You can pick your room."

"Sweet," Max mumbled, his mind suddenly feeling murky as the drama of the night had quieted down. He was on the edge of sobering up, making him aware of how incredibly drunk he was.

With the lack of someone to argue with and keep him distracted, his thoughts unwillingly began to wander. They had a chance to brush against the memory of his mom telling him why she had been suffering those headaches lately, the memory that had gotten him drinking earlier, before he almost desperately looked at Michael. "I should probably clean up. So I won't stain the sheets with blood."

He wouldn't be able to sleep yet anyway. He wouldn't be able to stop his sobering mind from thinking. From freaking out. From letting the anguished fear through.

The fight with Kyle had been convenient. Kyle's degrading words about Liz had probably only deserved a punch or two. But something had snapped in him as he had thrown himself onto Kyle's surprised body, beaten him to the ground. He'd had control, he was protecting someone he loved and unfortunately Kyle was at the receiving end.

Michael's pointing hand interrupted his thoughts. "Bathroom's down in that direction." Michael grimaced and then pointed in the opposite direction. "Or down there." He raised an eyebrow and pointed in front of them, down the stairs. "Or down there."

Max interrupted the fourth oncoming directive, "I get it."

Michael grinned and nodded then pressed something into Max's hand. Max looked down at Michael's cell phone. "You wanna call your mom? Tell her where you'll be."

"Thanks," Max murmured and swallowed deeply against the rising nausea.

"No problem, bro. I'll probably go watch some movies or something-"

Max's nod was immediate, slightly too enthusiastic at the thought of a distraction dangling temptingly in front of him, "Great. I'll just wash up."

Max missed the odd look Michael gave him as he turned towards the bathroom and quickly closed the distance. The sooner he cleaned himself up, the sooner he could get away from his thoughts.

------------------------------------------------------------

Max winced as his rapid fingers wiped over the wound on his forehead.

"You're doing it wrong."

His head snapped towards the voice, finding Liz leaning against the doorframe.

"Whatever," Max mumbled and returned to his work. He needed to get out of here quickly. His own blood was making him queasy enough without being slowed down by Liz.

She was in front of him in the next second, ripping the scrunched up wet toilet paper from his surprised hand while her other hand, pressed against his chest, was already pushing him backwards. He was sinking down onto the edge of the bathtub before he had the chance to comprehend what had just happened.

"You don't wash a wound with water and toilet paper," Liz grumbled as her hands searched through the contents of the bathroom cabinet.

Max shrugged. "It does the job."

"Do you know why that hurt? Because tap water has another tonicity than your tissues and it pulls water out of your tissues."

Max's face scrunched up as much as his injuries would allow and he murmured, "Eeeh… What?"

She glanced at him and sighed, as if she was cursed to have to be around ignorant people like said company.

"You read too much," Max added as he watched her pull out the familiar antiseptic bottle and a bag of cotton balls.

She turned around, put the bottle on edge of the bathtub, next to his thigh, and the cotton balls on the floor as she sank down on her knees in front of him. "Medicine interests me."

There was an odd constriction to his chest as he looked down at the top of her head. "You never told me that."

She let out a small laughter as she wet the cotton with the antiseptic solution. "Why would I? Besides, it's not like you're interested."

She raised her head and met his stare, her breath faltering in her chest at the look on his face. She swallowed slowly.

"Who said I wasn't interested?" he whispered and she got the strangest feeling that he wasn't just referring to their current topic of conversation.

Needing an excuse, Liz focused her gaze onto his forehead and sighed. "You messed it all up."

The wound was already angry and irritated from Max's not so very gentle cleaning. She could even see pieces of wet paper sticking to the wound.

She picked up one of the wet cotton balls and rose to her knees to reach his forehead. As he appeared too far away, she automatically scooted closer to him, between his thighs. She didn't realize the trip her body had made until she felt Max's scorching hands on each side of her hip, supporting her body.

Her mouth went dry as her eyes fluttered from the wound down to his eyes. She couldn't decipher his look. The intensity of his stare was almost nerve-wracking and her tongue moved out to slowly lick her suddenly very dry lips. A heat current moved through her as she saw his gaze shift from her eyes to her lips.

She cleared her throat, trying to pull her out of the heated cocoon into which they had managed to envelop themselves, and refocused on his wound.

They both winced as the antiseptic contacted the wound; Max from the sting and Liz from how Max's fingers curled into the sides of her hips.

"Careful," he mumbled.

"Don't be such a baby," Liz retorted.

"It really hurts."

She shook her head slowly. "Boys are so fucked up-"

"Hey," he protested mildly.

"You would willingly go straight into a fight and get beaten up, but when someone puts a cotton ball-"

"With stingy stuff," Max interjected sullenly.

"- against your wound you turn into a cry baby."

Max sighed. Girls would never understand anyway. "It's not the same."

"Sometimes your logic just baffles me," she said in cheerful sarcasm, letting the bloody cotton ball fall to the floor as she retrieved a new one.

Silence surrounded them as Liz worked at cleaning his war wounds. He let his eyes slowly wander across her body, being very aware of the heat emitted from the closeness of her body, and being painfully aware of the effects it was having on his body.

The alcohol must truly be messing with his system.

"Kitten," he said quietly, putting a halt to what she was doing and she slowly met his eyes.

Something about the way he said it and the word he used had goosebumps explode across her body. His hands were burning through the material of her pajama pants, tempting her body to slide even closer to his. To make contact with his. It was a strange feeling. A heated feeling. Very strong. And so she fought it with all her might.

"Why are you doing this?"

Why _was she_ doing this? She hadn't even thought it through. She had seen him massacre his wound and it had come naturally to her to help him out.

Her reply was the complete opposite of what she felt. "Because I can't pass on the opportunity to cause you pain."

He dug his index finger and thumb into her right hip, squeezing the small amount of flesh he found there between his fingers, causing her to yelp. "Funny girl."

She looked at him heatedly, prepared to move away from him. "Don't pinch me!"

"Sorry," he said with a glint in his eyes. "I couldn't pass on the opportunity to cause you pain."

Her expression turned dark and her voice was dangerous as she said slowly, "Do you want to go back to your toilet paper and tap water?"

He swallowed back his grin and almost managed to look believably apologetic. "I'll stop."

"That's the thanks you get," Liz mumbled to herself as she pasted a band-aid across his wound, missing the smile on Max's lips.

He jumped as her fingers brushed over his swollen eye.

"Sorry," she said regretfully at his reaction. "Does that hurt?"

His reaction had been due to the soft glide of her fingers over his skin, magnifying the heat that the inflammation was already exuding. But it wasn't painful. Far from it.

"No," he swallowed. "Just took me by surprise, that's all."

She shook her head as she leaned down to pick up another cotton ball. "You're such an idiot."

"It's what boys do, Parker," Max said amused and quoted the stereotype, "Boys resolve things with their fists."

"It's stupid," Liz murmured and pressed the cotton against another wound on his cheek.

He winced, but managed to stay still for her this time.

"Why would you do that?" she said quietly and Max realized that she was probably talking to herself.

He was about to give a response to her rhetorical question when he caught a tear running down her cheek.

"Liz…?" His voice was cautious as he was suddenly faced with a very unusual situation.

Liz Parker in tears.

"You could've killed each other," she continued, not aware of his presence anymore. "And what about Kyle? How injured is he? Is someone taking care of him?"

Max tried to swallow back the sudden pain in his heart. He had never meant to make her cry. That something he had done had made her cry made him feel like the lowest scum on the face of the earth. "I'm sorry."

He had a feeling she wasn't even aware of that three tears had already rolled down her cheek, as she said fiercely, "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"But you're here and you're the one crying," he whispered and watched every second of her transformation from angry into shocked into embarrassed into fearful as she pulled away from him.

Her face was surprised as the hand she wiped across her cheeks encountered wetness, confirming his words.

She rose to her feet, acutely aware of how his hands brushed from her hips down the sides of her thighs as he didn't remove them during her change into an upright position. His fingertips glided along the sides of her upper calves as she stepped out from between his legs.

"You can do the rest," she said dismissively, her voice breaking with restrained tears.

"Kitten, I'm-"

"Sorry," she filled in with something close to a growl. "Yes I know. So am I."

With that she spun on her heels and walked out of the bathroom, leaving Max staring at her confounded; a fallen cotton ball soaking into the fabric of his pants.

TBC...


	42. Dream a Little Dream of Me

**Miss Snazzy;** Thank you so much for all your comments. Your comments made me realize that people are still reading my work on and the next step in my thought process was that I had forgotten to update Snapshot on in a while. So, here we are...

**41. Dream a Little Dream of Me**

**The Apartment**

**(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17**

"Liz. Liz!"

The urgency in his voice woke her up. His face was hovering closely above hers, his breath hot on her face.

Heat dried her voice as she croaked, "What?"

She could feel how his grip on her upper arms, which just seconds prior had been used to shake her back to consciousness, began to loosen. Soften. Until his skin only made the contact of a breath against hers, drifting slowly up her bare arms.

"You fell asleep," he whispered urgently.

Trying to clear the cobwebs from her head, Liz felt the urgency jolt her. "I'm sorry."

Her slowly awakening brain was working fervently in attempt to decipher why it was such a bad thing that she had fallen asleep. What had she missed?

She shivered as his hands moved further up her arms, creating symmetrical lines of fire that surrounded her.

Her breaths were shallow, strained, as she asked, "Why are you here?"

"The girl's not real," he answered, his eyes boring into hers as if begging her to understand.

She blinked. "What?"

His fingers moved with the lightest touch across the skin of her neck. "It's just a trick."

Despite herself, a quiet moan escaped her confused lips as his hands anew moved downwards, sliding softly across the top of her collarbone. The dark flicker in his eyes put a halt to her automatic desire to breathe.

Trying to control her erratically beating heart, Liz whispered, "What are you talking about?"

Suddenly he was seated on the couch, the side of his thigh burning against hers, while one of his hands whispered down her neck, down the side of her upper body. His touch sent electrical currents through her body and she tensed in bittersweet anticipation.

Before she had a chance to register what was happening, she was being pulled into a seated position. She blinked, her breath freezing on her lips as his movement brought her face within millimeters of his.

"It's you I want," he breathed, the warmth of his breath combined with the passion in his words causing her to tremble in his firm grip.

"Max, I-" she began, but his blazing lips on her neck put a stop to her words.

"Don't speak," he murmured against her shivering skin.

"I-" Liz gasped, her muffled head trying to make sense of what was happening.

"You never shut up, do you?" Max breathed, his fingers trailing underneath the bottom edge of her navy blue cardigan.

His words ignited something familiar in her and a fire that would normally have her pushing him away now served to fuel the opposite emotion.

Her dazed body was filled with life and without wasting another second, she pushed her hands into his dark hair, urging his head backwards. A sigh of protest whispered across her lips as the motion momentarily separated his lips from her skin. But as soon as his lips lost their contact with her neck, they were desperately recaptured by hers.

Like a starving woman, she frantically molded their lips together. Her heart stumbled as he responded just as fervently to her actions.

His hands were everywhere, but like a well-coordinated dance their hungry hands never bumped into each other, their arms never tangled impossibly.

She shivered as his warmth enveloped her, his hands moving up her back underneath her cardigan. Not really knowing how, she suddenly found herself on his lap, her fingers caressing his neck restlessly as her mouth made love to his.

Her hips rocked against his, trying to get closer in frustrated attempt to alleviate the ache she was feeling.

"I've wanted this for so long," Max breathless voice brushed against her cheek as his body pushed her onto her back on the couch, her thighs falling to the sides to accommodate his body. Gasping for air, Max pulled away from Liz's bruised lips and instead initiated a trail of kisses down her chest, down the center of the modest cleavage her V-shaped cardigan presented.

His fingertips burned her skin as he opened the top button of her cardigan, the wetness of the subsequent kiss momentarily soothing the burn until only a fraction of a second later burn with the lingering passion.

Unbuttoning another button, an action immediately followed by his lips, Max made his way down her front in an oddly orderly fashion, making her back instinctively arch up against his touch.

Reaching her bellybutton, Max slid his hands inside the cardigan from the center, flushing his palms with the fair skin over her ribs, the sides of his thumbs pressing up against the underside of her breasts.

His blazing eyes met hers and her heart fumbled in its automatic task. A slow smile spread across his lips as his eyes flickered between her red lips and her half-lidded eyes. "Lizzie Parker." She whimpered, the huskiness in his statement making her weary with want. "You're not wearing a bra."

Her cardigan was still covering her up, but his hands had discovered that she had put all of her bras in the laundry that morning, leaving none available for her to wear.

A blush so strong that it burned against her skin flushed her cheeks and her body trembled as she managed a weak shake of her head.

Keeping his eyes locked with hers, she felt his hands leave the flatness of her ribs and move upwards, softly encasing her breasts in his hands. Something flickered in his eyes and her chest rose and froze with the next breath, afraid of the sensations she might feel if she moved again.

Then his thumbs swept once across her nipples and she couldn't stop the clenching of her thighs around his hips or the soft groan from escaping her being.

"Max…"

* * *

"-no fucking idea what they're doing," Michael's voice drifted through the opening door, his incomplete statement followed by the noise of his keys hitting the table.

Max walked in behind him, a lollipop in his mouth as he absent-mindedly listened to Michael's spiel of frustration.

He was to become even less in tune with Michael's words as his eyes drifted to the couch and the sleeping beauty occupying it.

Michael was just a second behind in noticing. "She asleep?"

Max gave a vague shrug of his shoulders in response, his eyes lingering on Liz Parker's face sleeping face, as his tongue absent-mindedly swirled around the sweet lollipop.

Michael gave a short nod and started walking towards his room to get what he had come for. "Don't wake her up, okay?"

"Sure man," Max agreed, not having heard a single word Michael had just said.

A small smile on his face, one plan after the other of how to wake her up flickering through his head, Max slowly approached the couch.

It was when he was standing there, gazing down at her sleeping features, scheming and finishing off the last of his lollipop, that one word drifted past her lips, the single syllable shaped in a groan of pleasure.

"Max…"

He froze, for a second wondering if she knew that he was there and was playing a trick on him, until he noticed the REM-flicker of her eyes beneath her eyelids indicating that Liz Parker was completely at the mercy of her dream world.

The desire rippled through him so suddenly it weakened his legs as his breathing became shallow in his ears and his eyes grew darker.

"Kitten?" he said softly and watched to his amazement Liz arch her back tantalizingly slowly upwards in response, a repeat of his name on her lips.

Shooting a quick glance down the hallway to make sure that Michael was not on his return yet, Max dropped to his knees next to the couch.

Hesitating only for a brief second, he placed his hand against her cheek. His heart clenched and his body tightened as she leaned her face into his hand. Licking his lips, he kept his hand cradled against her cheek while his other hand brushed through her hair.

"Don't stop…" she murmured, causing his heart to hammer away at an even faster speed in his chest.

Leaning in close, so close that his lips brushed against her skin with each syllable, he whispered, "Are you awake?"

"Touch me," she whimpered and he swallowed.

Feeling like he was doing something wrong, Max stretched his neck to look over the back of the couch to make sure that Michael was not anywhere close, before he refocused his attention on Liz.

Placing his index finger gently against her upper lip, he slowly began to trace it, his eyes following the movement of his finger with enthralled fascination.

He watched as her lips shaped themselves around his finger as she kissed his touch.

"I can't find it."

Max's hand ripped away from Liz's body as Michael's voice drifted across the hallway and he quickly stumbled to his feet. He managed to get himself to a safe inconspicuous distance from Liz by the time Liz's big brother reached the living room.

In the same second as Michael crossed into the living room, Liz's eyes flew open.

Having glanced in her direction at the right time, Michael saw her wake up and grinned, "Morning, sleepyhead."

Captivated, Max watch Liz's face turn bright red as she fumbled herself into a seated position, disoriented eyes scanning the situation she had found herself in.

Raising one eyebrow and having no great success at keeping the knowing tone out of his voice, Max asked, "Sweet dreams?"

Liz's head snapped into Max's direction so abruptly that she was at risk of dislocating her neck and her face turned if possible an even deeper shade of red.

"Wh-what are you guys doing here?" she breathed, trying to get her emotions under control.

It didn't help that the main person of her dream was standing across the room, darkness in his eyes as he casually leaned against the wall, surrounded by a field of sex. Trying to ignore the flashes of the still very present dream in her head and struggling to ignore the feel of Max's hands and lips running across her body, Liz's hands were trembling as she brushed them through her tousled hair.

"Do you know where my phone is?" Michael asked.

Liz swallowed and tore her eyes away from Max's. Her thoughts were all on Max as she tried to figure out what her brother had just said. "Sorry?"

Michael sighed. "My phone. Have you seen it?"

Shaking her head slowly, Liz's unseeing eyes dropped to her lap.

Michael frowned and concern tightened his stance. "Are you okay?"

He had suddenly noticed that she looked a bit flushed.

As Liz raised her head to assure him that she was fine, Michael pressed a cool hand against her forehead.

"Mike?" she whined, partly embarrassed, partly annoyed as she pulled away from his hand. "What are you doing?"

"Are you sick?"

"I'm fine, Michael," she bit out.

"What crawled up your ass?" Michael bit back, not appreciating her attitude.

"Yeah, Shorty," Max inserted. "Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

Liz didn't have to look at him to know that he was wearing his patent-proofed smug right now. How in the world did she end up having a sex dream about Max Evans? She frowned. Maybe she was sick.

"Peachy," she snapped, directing her venom in Max's direction.

As her gaze stumbled against his dark eyes, a shiver of fear trickled down her spine. Had she been talking in her sleep? Had she unknowingly provided them with information about her dream?

Flickering her eyes into Michael's direction and watching him give up on her with a sigh and walk into the kitchen area to continue the search for his phone, she was pretty certain Michael didn't know anything. But with Max's burning eyes at the back of her neck, she was equally certain that Max knew exactly what she had been dreaming about.

"Do you wanna come with us, Lizzie?" Max asked, watching her profile intently for every flicker of emotion. Her face was mesmerizing. Liz Parker always carefully guarded every emotion except anger on her face. But she was currently too busy trying to figure out what was going on to remember to put the guard up, instead providing Max with every emotion known to man as each and every one of them were dancing across her face.

Before she could reply, Max added, "Or would you rather go back to your dream?"

With the sound of drawers being pulled out and content being rummaged through, Liz lowered her voice to a hiss as she faced Max. "Whatever you think you know-"

A slow smile twitched his lips. "I bet it was a good dream."

Her fists tightened next to her body as the anger propelled her to her feet. With ten rapid steps she was standing right in front of him.

Resisting the urge to jab her finger into his chest for emphasis, she practically growled, "Do you think it was about you?"

Confidence soaked into each well-planned detail of his face as he leaned in close, making sure that her eyes could not evade his. "Yes."

His confidence bit into hers and she felt herself faltering, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"You were having a wet dream, weren't you?"

She knew she should be disgusted with his words, but instead of tempting her to hit him, the words tempted her to wrap her legs around his waist and have her way with him.

She swallowed.

He observed.

She unconsciously bit her lower lip as she considered what to say next.

Her unconscious movement curled his hands into tight fists to stop himself from reaching out and kissing her.

Pushing her feelings down to her feet, she took a deep breath and said with feigned resignation, "Okay…fine."

Max heart stilled. She was going to admit it?

"I was having a…dream," Liz squeezed the words past seemingly reluctant lips. "About Brad…Pitt."

Fighting the need to roll his eyes, Max took a deep breath. So, that's how she wanted to play this. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I had no idea Brad's nickname was…Max."

Liz visibly paled.

Had she actually said his name or was he just testing her? Noticing the twinkle in his eyes she suddenly felt very weak. God, she _had_ said his name.

"It's not what you think," she whispered.

He placed his index finger against her forehead and slowly slid it down the side of her face. His voice was husky as he murmured, "Lizzie Lizzie Lizzie."

"It wasn't like that," she continued, not sure if she was getting through to him or if she was just digging herself a grave.

"What was I doing?" Max whispered, honest curiosity briefly lighting his eyes. "In your dream?"

Her breaths felt strained in her chest. His presence was boiling around her, almost suffocating her with sexual magnetism.

"I wasn't dreaming about you," she tried again, her voice weak this time. Completely devoid of confidence.

His voice dropped another octave, the intimacy of his tone softening the word sensually. "Kitten…"

"Ha! Found it!"

Liz took a big step backwards and Max straightened, worriedly looking into Michael's direction as he first now realized just how close to Liz he had been standing.

"Are you coming with us, Lizzie?" Michael wondered, walking blindly towards the front door where Liz and Max were standing, his full attention on his phone as he checked his messages.

Liz took a deep breath, emotionally distancing herself from Max. "Where're you goin'?"

Michael looked up from his phone. "Cinema."

Liz rolled her eyes. Of course. "What are you seeing?"

"The Matrix," Michael answered with an obvious 'duh' expression on his face.

Liz gave her brother a tight smile. "Surprise."

"You wanna come?" Michael asked.

Avoiding the burning look Max was sending in her direction she firmly shook her head. "Nah."

Michael shrugged non-committedly. "Cool." Facing Max, Michael pushed his phone into his back pocket. "Let's go, man."

As Michael lead the way out the door, Max turned around just as he was about to close the door behind them, making sure that Michael was well out of ear-shot. "Sweet dreams, Lizzie."

Liz's heart dropped to her chest as goosebumps spread across her body and then his eyes left hers and the door closed in front of her.

Taking a deep trembling breath, Liz's fist tightened in search for self-control. Not finding it, she kicked the wall. "Stupid!"

Then she went to her room and turned her music up as loud as it would go as she hid her still flustered face underneath her pillow and tried to wish the fantasies about the boy she dearly wanted to just hate out of her mind.

TBC...


	43. Painters

**42. Painters**

**The Apartment**

**(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17**

"Hey pancake, do you wanna help us out?"

Liz slowly looked up from her book. "What did you just call me?"

Max was leaning against the doorway, his arms folded casually across his chest, his left ankle crossed over his right. Cocking his head to the side, he asked with a curious grin, "What? You don't like it?"

She stared at him as if he had gone insane. "Pancake? Yeah, right. What's there not to like? Let's see. Pancakes; Round. Floppy. Smeared with sticky syrup. You're right." She broke out in a wide sarcastic grin. "I absolutely _adore_ that nickname."

"Come on, Parker. I thought girls loved being called food things. Like…" His voice lowered huskily as he pushed off the doorframe and walked into the room; his movements slow and deliberate with a seductive crooked smile on his lips. "Honey." An involuntary shiver raced through Liz's body and she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from his advance as he was gradually got closer to the bed she was occupying. "Sugar." Max stopped in front of her, looking down at her, unmasked hunger in his eyes. "Sweet pea." Every nerve in her body began to quiver and an uncontrollable blaze warmed her from the inside out as his gaze began to wander unhindered across her body, pausing in places that had her struggling not to moan out loud.

She tried to pull herself out of his spell, tried to look away from his transfixing eyes, but part of the curse he was placing her under was the knowing smirk on his lips. The fact that he knew exactly how much he was affecting her in that very second.

He bent down, bringing his face within breathing distance from hers, and slowly traced the line of her jaw to place an errant strand of hair behind her ear. "How about Pumpkin?"

"I-I think…what are you…No…"

Max's eyes twinkled in amusement as she struggled to string together a proper sentence. The twinkle effectively snapped Liz out of her temporary daze.

Max instantaneously saw the change in her eyes as her defenses went up and the challenging air of her stubbornness leaked into the tightening of her facial features.

Calmly, he awaited the explosion.

But Liz merely smiled at him, telling him in a sweet stable voice, "If you don't get out of here right now, I'm gonna hurt you." She hitched her chin in the direction of her knee, where it was perfectly positioned between his legs. All she had to do was kick upwards and Max would be wishing he had never gotten to know Liz Parker.

Max's face paled as he followed her silent directions, cleared his throat and took a step back. To a safe distance from her dangerous legs. "So… You don't want to help your brother out? It's your apartment after all. Maybe you should chip in."

Appearing bored, Liz shook her head. "You have to try harder than that, Evans."

Max licked his lips slowly before assaulting her senses with another crooked smile and drawling, "You want me to smear you in syrup, _pancake_?"

Her heart missed a beat before she forced herself to scrunch her face in disgust. "Ew. Get out of my room, pervert."

But Max thought it was way too much fun to bother Liz. Ignoring her orders was only part of the fun. He gestured towards all the moving boxes cluttering the floor. "When are you gonna unpack? Shouldn't you unpack _before_ you start reading your erotic novels?"

A faint blush spread across her cheeks at Max's insinuations and she pushed the book closed, waving it threateningly in his direction. "At least I can read. Unlike some people."

"Just because I appreciate the art of pictures more than boring words doesn't mean I can't read, pancake."

Something snapped in her and she shot to her feet. "_Stop calling me that!_"

Max started to laugh as Liz's face turned redder as she got increasingly angry and the embarrassment turned deeper.

"Michael!" she yelled.

"Michael," Max imitated in a high-pitched voice, still recovering from his fit of laughter. Seriously, Liz Parker was hilarious when she got angry.

Liz stepped up and slapped him on his arm with her book. "I don't sound like that!"

"I don't sound like that," Max parroted in the same falsetto voice.

"Okay, kids," Michael announced from the doorway. "Could we kiss and make up now?"

Max wiggled his eyebrows in interest at Liz at Michael's words, causing Liz to squeeze her lips tightly together against another scream and thereby preventing herself from afflicting Max with another book attack.

Michael, having missed Max's flirtatious gesture, stared at his sister. "Looks like you need to paint, Liz."

Liz's eyes opened wide. "What?"

Seeing Max's wide smile, she started to shake her head. "No. No, Michael. I don't want to paint."

"It needs to dry for at least a day," Michael said. "So we need to get it done now. We can't move stuff in before it dries."

"I don't want to paint," Liz whined.

"Come on, pancake," Max said.

Liz raised her book to slam it against Max when Michael stepped in between and removed the weapon from his sister's hand.

"Okay, you're driving me insane. Stop it."

"Yes, mom," Max and Liz said in unison and then looked at each other with a 'oh come on' look before Michael interrupted their silent conversation by grabbing a hold of Liz's elbow.

"Let's go paint, sis. This is what the people who can't afford painters do."

Liz resisted the temptation to step on Max's foot as she walked past him, reluctantly trotting after her brother. "Then why are we doing it? We can afford painters."

Max's voice was close, too close, as he said, "It's for the bonding experience."

Liz shivered as his warm breath brushed against the back of her neck. Swirling her head around to stare at him with dark hatred she bit out, "Then what are _you_ doing here?"

With a wink, Max refrained from answering her question and instead looked up at Michael. "Hey, I've got an idea."

"Yeah?" Michael asked, only mildly interested as he pulled Liz into the middle of the living room.

"We should paint the apartment in our underwear."

Liz gaped at him while Michael rolled his eyes. "Dude. That would be an excellent idea if there was some hot chicks here-"

"Hey!" Liz protested, causing Michael to look at her oddly.

"You're my sister!"

Liz pouted and mumbled, "Still."

"Come on," Max said, crushing Liz to his side. "Liz is _hot_."

Liz narrowed her eyes at the joking quality of his voice and had the sudden urge to push his head into one of the buckets filled with paint. What he said next didn't exactly help to smother that urge, "You know Tess-"

Liz rolled her eyes as she was attacked by the familiar suffocating feeling of not being able to breathe which happened every time Max mentioned his newest love interest. Warping her voice, she mimicked, "You know Tess."

Taking no notice of her behavior, Max continued, "She has it as a rule that whoever paints her apartment with her has to be in their underwear. And apparently she repaints like every second week or something."

Michael's eyes widened. "Sweet. You should invite her over, man."

"Should we paint or what?" Liz interrupted before Max could seriously consider inviting the blonde over.

Michael handed her a paintbrush. "Here."

Liz walked over to one of the paint buckets and stared down into it. "Did you know that red makes you eat more?"

"Red is the color of love," Max swooned from the other corner of the room as he used a screwdriver to pry the lid off another bucket of paint.

Liz looked at her brother in plead for salvation. "Does he have to be here?"

Michael just shrugged. "We're just painting one wall in red. Apparently it's the in-thing."

"Says who?" Liz wondered.

"Maria."

Liz rolled her eyes. "Whipped."

Max looked up from dipping his paintbrush in the light chocolate color and nodded in agreement.

Liz sighed. "So, which wall is supposed to be red?"

Michael pointed her in the right direction and she pulled her bucket of red paint up to the wall, immersing the brush into the paint and was just about to put the brush against the wall when Max appeared behind her, putting his bucket of brown paint next to hers.

She looked at him in annoyance. "Do you have to be so close?"

He nodded. "Sorry, but yes."

"I hate you."

He smiled. "Right back atcha, pancake."

"Why's he calling you pancake?" Michael asked curiously.

"Because it's just so fitting," Max answered before Liz had the chance to.

Liz shrugged and stated in an obvious tone, "He's an idiot. He can't see the difference between me and something you eat."

Max took a step closer to her and whispered in a volume that only she could hear, "I bet you're delicious too."

She flushed a bright red and took a step away from him. "Can't you paint over there?"

As she went about pointing with her paintbrush, she accidentally flung some of the paint from the brush into Max's direction.

The paint landed beautifully smack in the center of Max's face, a sprinkle of small red dots across his nose.

"Whoops," was the only word Liz got out with a straight face before she started laughing.

Having felt the cold droplets against his skin, Max slowly moved his hand across his face as Liz continued to laugh at him, picking up the paint and unbeknownst to him, spreading it just a little bit more over his face.

Which had Liz laughing even harder.

"Oh man, you've got paint on your face," the helpful friend pointed out, which had Liz doubling over, holding her already aching stomach against the laughter that was making her abdominal muscles cramp.

"Thanks for the news flash," Max said sarcastically, the feeling of revenge boiling underneath the surface as he watched Liz laugh herself silly over his appearance. "What's so funny, Lizzie?"

But Liz could merely shake her head, the laughter disabling her from forming any eligible sentences.

Staring at her for a second, trying to decide if he found her incredibly adorable or infuriately annoying, Max walked up to her, raised his paintbrush in front of him and to Liz's utter shock made a perfect stroke of the brush down her cheek.

Liz's laughter came to an abrupt halt.

Michael looked away from his careful painting of the wall at the sudden silence, noted Max's triumphant smirk before seeing the paint dripping off Liz's face about the same time that he saw the raw fire in her eyes. Disaster was on its way. "Oh shit…"

Without a word, Liz shoved her paintbrush into Max's face. Fortunately, he had his mouth closed when this happened otherwise the war might've taken a dangerously serious turn rather quickly.

"You little…" Max mumbled through layers of paint, the words causing paint to touch the insides of his lips and he almost gagged at the metallic taste.

Wiping his face with the back of one hand, he used the other to dip his paintbrush back into the paint bucket.

Michael could see catastrophe unfold before his very eyes. "Eh…guys?"

Max landed a drenched brush onto Liz's chest, the impact sending a wet noise of danger bouncing off the walls.

Liz took one murderous look at Max and then all hell broke lose.

Liz lunged herself at Max, causing them to fall to the floor in a frenzied tangle of limbs. Wasting no time, Liz reached for the closest paint bucket with an animalistic growl, shoved her whole hand into the thick liquid and before Max had a chance to react she was smearing paint all over his face, everywhere.

"Hey, don't waste the paint!" Michael ordered to deaf ears.

Max looked up at the tigress straddling his waist, with something that fittingly could be war painting on one side of her cheek, and against his self-control felt the hot blaze of desire building up in him. Her weight on his body was temptingly frustrating, the fire in her dark eyes was unnervingly mesmerizing and the blush on her uncolored left cheek was passionately red.

"You really want to do this?" Max asked slowly.

Liz narrowed her eyes and bent down, bringing their faces close. "Bring it on, baby."

Two red-painted eyebrows rose in appreciative amusement before he pushed her off him, causing her to roll to her side and look up at him a second before he plastered recently paint-covered hands across the exposed part of her chest.

Liz gasped at the cold sticky sensation, mixing with the previous paint that was already starting to stagnant on her skin. "You bastard!"

"Oh come on, Shorty," Max cooed. "You started it."

Her hands flung to her side in the optimum of frustration, she practically yelled, "It was an accident!"

Max laughed. "Just because I'm winning, you're not liking the game anymore?"

"Guys?" Michael sighed tiredly. "Could we not do this? We need to finish painting."

But Michael might've just as well been invisible.

"Fine," Max said, opening his arms in a gesture of resignation. "Do your best."

Too angry to listen to the voice that told her he was winning by giving her a handicap, Liz grabbed a bigger brush and thoroughly drenched it in red paint.

"Lizzie…" Michael said, his voice strained with warning. "What are you-"

Before he had a chance to finish that sentence, Liz pushed the paintbrush in Max's direction with a warrior scream echoing around her. Before the brush made contact with Max's T-shirt, his hand came up and he pushed the brush backwards. Straight into Liz's unexpectant face.

She gasped around the color as Max started laughing. Not being able to resist how ridiculous Liz looked, Michael joined in shortly thereafter.

Trying to stop the paint from getting into her eyes, Liz tried wiping the paint off her skin between screamed curses and 'I hate you's.

Blindly, she reached for the closest paint bucket, filled her small hand with the thick liquid and threw in the direction of his laughter. The silencing of his laughter told her that she had hit her mark.

The war was on.

She removed most of the paint from her face with the front of her T-shirt so that she could see the opponents.

Everyone against everyone.

Ten minutes later, Max tiredly sank to the floor, exhausted laughter drying on his lips along with the paint. Liz laid down next to him, taking a deep breath. Michael sat down next to his sister, looking over the paint now covering his two days old jeans.

Three pairs of eyes looked in silence at the walls surrounding them. The walls that had previously been white were now sprinkled in different colors in the most disorganized pattern.

"We should keep it like this," Liz said.

"Yeah," Max agreed.

"It's actually kinda cool," Michael stated.

The ringing of a phone interrupted their quiet reflections and Max fumbled through his paint covered pants for the ringing object.

Glancing at the caller id, Liz noticed him freeze a fraction of a second before he jumped to his feet.

"Hello?" His voice gradually reduced in volume as he disappeared down the hallway.

Liz turned to look at her brother whose frown was matching hers. "What was that about?"

Michael shrugged. "Dunno."

* * *

**Twenty minutes later**

She found him in her room. His head was resting heavily in his hands. His phone had been discarded next to his still form.

Her voice was cautious, softly breaking through the silence. "Max?"

He lifted his head and looked at her, weariness radiating out of his eyes so strongly that she felt sadness grip every cell of her body.

"Liz," he said equally softly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to take your room." He grabbed the phone and rose from the bed. "I'll be out of your hair-"

Liz frowned. When had Max ever apologized for being in her room? "What's wrong?"

Max stilled and scratched the back of his neck, doing an excellent job at avoiding her eyes. "Nothing. It's nothing."

Normally she wouldn't care, but "Who was that one the phone?"

"My dad's lawyer."

"Oh," Liz breathed warily. "Why is he calling you?"

Max sighed. "Because my dad won't pick up the phone."

Liz looked at him oddly. "Why not?"

Max grimaced. He didn't really feel like going into the details right now. No one really knew how bad things were between him and his dad. No one really knew how his father spent hours and hours locked up in his study, avoiding reality. No one really knew that Max had been working two jobs over the last couple of months to be able to pay bills. Not that he minded the work. That and arguing with Liz were the only things distracting him from thinking about his dead mother.

"Let's just say he's not that chatty nowadays."

Liz observed him closely. For some reason, he suddenly looked different. He looked tired. She noticed every evasive movement and every tired line across his forehead.

Neither of them had broached the subject of his mother's death since the funeral and Liz didn't want to force him to talk about it if it was too hard for him. She just thought that if he couldn't talk to her about it, he would talk to Michael about it. She hadn't realized that instead of talking to her brother about it, Max might've just closed everything inside of him.

She swallowed. "Since your mom…?"

He nodded mutely and pushed the phone into his back pocket. "Anyway…" Looking up, he met her eyes for a second, the anguish she momentarily saw in his eyes pushing sharply into her chest. "I'm gonna go."

Her hand on his arm stopped him as he walked past. "Max…"

As if knowing what she wanted to say, he turned to her and smiled at her softly, "It's okay, kitten."

"I know we always play rough, but if you ever need to-"

Her heart fluttered as he pressed his index finger against her lips, putting a halt to her offer. "Thanks."

Her eyes begged him to unload on her, but the bittersweet agony in his eyes told her the likelihood of that happening was very low. A warmth spread from the tip of his finger where it was connected to her lip, down her neck, straight into her heart making her want to cry. Cry for his pain.

"Sorry about your hair," he whispered as his finger slowly slid down her lips causing her breath to tremble in her chest.

Being a stranger to a situation of this character, Liz produced an insecure smile while her hand touched the dried paint in her hair. "Yeah, I might have to shave my head if I can't get the paint out."

He smiled. "I hope not. I like your hair."

A tentative thrill rushed through her erratically beating heart and she looked at him curiously. "You sure you're alright?"

The smile slowly fell off his lips and he nodded before leaning in towards her.

Her heart almost stopped.

Was he going to kiss her?

The shock paralyzed her to the spot and then he planted a soft lingering kiss against her forehead. "See you later, pancake."

There was a twinkle in his eyes as he straightened up and her arms itched to hug him. Her whole soul itched to put her arms around him in a tight hug.

But she didn't.

"It's Liz," she corrected without the regular venom, the concern for him softening her voice into a near whisper.

"Whatever you say," he whispered back and if she was not mistaken there was gratitude in his eyes as he with one final wink turned and walked out the room, leaving her stunned and unsure of where she stood with her arch nemesis.

TBC...


	44. Ain't No Sunshine

**43. Ain't No Sunshine**

**The Parkers' Residence**

**Thanksgiving**

**(1992) Michael is 8, Liz is 6**

Liz jumped with the sound of the vase smashing into the wall and she clutched the stuffed bunny closer to her chest as the angry voices continued downstairs.

Her mother was upset about something. Crying and screaming. She seemed angry. But mostly sad. Her father was screaming at her mother and there was so many frightening sounds coming from the first floor that Liz was clutching her small hands to her ears in attempt to drown it out.

Pulling her bunny by the ears, she climbed off the bed and walked up to her walk-in closet. There was already a large pillow on the floor from when she used to sit in there and play with her stuffed animals and she plumped down on it, burying her face into the fluffy fur of Mr. Big Ears.

She tensed as she heard the door to her room open but quickly relaxed as his voice drifted through the dim light of her bedroom.

"Lizzie? You in here?"

She slid the wardrobe door to the side and poked her tear-stained face out. "I'm here."

Her big brother had a blanket wrapped around him and was carrying a flashlight in his hand. He crawled into the closet next to his little sister, closed the sliding door and wrapped the blanket around both of them, constructing a hiding place from the rest of the world.

As the blanket came to sit over them and the darkness became more palpable, Michael turned on the flashlight. He smiled comforting at his little sister as she blinked up at him with large wounded eyes. "You want me to tell you a story?"

She nodded quickly, wanting Michael to make the scary outside world go away.

"Do you have Mr. Big Ears?" Michael asked and Liz nodded seriously.

Liz had more or less grown out of the bunny, but it was during times like these that she reverted back to her younger insecurities and the stuffed animals provided her with some comfort.

"Okay," Michael said and took a deep breath. "What do you want to hear?"

"Tell me again about the time when you and dad went fishing," Liz replied and then her eyes widened as she remembered the last story Michael had told.

It had been one of the few times that Mr. Parker had spent some quality time with Michael and Liz loved hearing him tell that particular story because Michael always sounded so happy.

"Again?"

"Please?"

He smiled. "Alright."

Liz relaxed against him, curling into his side while she clutched the bunny in her arms. "How does it start?"

"It was raining that day," Michael began and Liz squeezed her brother's T-shirt in her small hands, already listening intently. "Dad woke me up when it was still dark outside…"

The quarrel downstairs was quickly drowned out.

* * *

**13 years later**

**The Parkers' Residence**

**Thanksgiving**

**(2005) Michael is 21, Max is 20, Liz is 19**

"Elizabeth, please tell Gabriela to replace that wine glass. It has a fingerprint on it."

Liz sighed, "Yes, mother," having no intention of telling Gabriela that.

There was no need for the already overloaded Gabriela to replace slightly dirty wine glasses as well when Liz was perfectly able to do so herself.

Ridiculously enough, Liz automatically felt like she was doing something wrong while walking over to the mini-bar where the different types of wine glasses collected from various places around Europe were displayed through glass doors of numerous cabinets. If her mother had seen her doing the job of a servant, Liz would have been firmly scolded.

Setting the table or helping out with the cooking did not suit a lady.

She grabbed a new wine glass, made sure it was clean, put it on the table and then walked in the direction of the kitchen with the smudged glass.

The rich smells of the delicious Thanksgiving dinner Gabriela and three other cooks had spent the whole day preparing filled her nose as she entered the kitchen.

An instantaneous smile spread across her lips and the glass forgotten on the counter, she walked up to Gabriela and threw her arms around the old woman's middle.

Gabriela laughed in surprise and lightly patted Liz's hand with one of her drier hands. "How are you, Miss Liz?"

"Eh," Liz sighed non-committedly and dropped her chin on Gabriela's shoulder.

"Ahh," Gabriela nodded with insight, "How's your _mother_ doing?"

"Ready to blow a gasket," Liz answered.

Gabriela nodded slowly, not really sure what that meant, but understanding the gist of it anyway. "Ah. But dinner ready soon."

Liz smiled and pushed onto the tip of her toes to stretch across Gabriela's shoulder and plant a kiss on the woman's cheek. "Thank you."

"No problem," Gabriela answered with a smile as Liz let go and stole a cookie, still warm from the oven, on the way out of the kitchen.

The cookie barely touched her lips before it was taken out of her hands.

"Hey," she protested and looked up to see her mother looking at her with a disapproving expression.

"Sweetie," she said with sugary sweetness, "There's a reason why they say 'A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips'."

Liz blinked and was just about to retaliate when the door bell rang.

"That would be Michael," Nancy smiled and disappeared out of Liz's view.

Liz closed her eyes for a second, trying to build up the reserve energy that had been depleted a long time ago, and inhaled deeply.

As she started for the voices from the hallway, she squared her shoulders and told herself that she could do this. It was just one night. She didn't even live here anymore. It was just one night.

But then she heard his voice and her steps faltered. Her mother's fake exclamation confirmed what she had already feared. "Oh Max. How nice that you were able to come!"

There was always mixed feelings whenever Max was around nowadays. There used to be something strange going on between them before that night as well, she couldn't deny that. But after that night, everything had been so _not_ awkward. She almost wanted it to be awkward. She wanted Max to acknowledge that they had ended up in an impossible situation, and considering that they'd had sex he shouldn't be acting like nothing had changed.

Granted, he _had_ tried talking about it with her, and she had been the one refusing. But why couldn't he just leave it at that? Did he have to pretend and go back to how things were before they had mind-blowing-out-of-this-earth sex with each other?

A fresh blush spread across her cheeks as the thoughts brought along a fresh set of memories. It had been almost ten months since that night, but still her body reacted in the most sinful of ways to just the slightest thought trailing in that direction.

It was with rosy cheeks and feigned nonchalance that Liz circled the corner and her eyes automatically fell upon the man that had always had her heart beat irregularly.

Michael spotted his sister and yelled out a, "Hey sis!"

"Michael," Nancy Parker immediately chastened. "Where are your manners? Didn't you just see your sister earlier this morning?"

A slight smile tickled Liz's lips as Michael sent her a look of silent communication, words that were privy to them. Michael's excitement had obviously been a result of Liz's entrance saving him from being further assessed by his critical mother rather than seeing Liz herself. Something Liz completely understood.

Max remained in the shadows, silently observing the family dynamics of the Parkers. Thanksgiving with the Parkers was nothing like the Thanksgivings he had grown up with. The love, laughter and warmth was simply lacking in the ridiculously too big mansion. But compared to spending Thanksgiving alone in his apartment, the Parkers were still the better alternative.

Then Liz looked in his direction and he got the strongest feeling that she wasn't that happy about his presence. Things had been strained between them lately and she hadn't spent much time at the apartment; instead spending a lot of time with Sean. Something that Max tried not to think too much about.

"Sorry, mother," Michael said and walked up to Liz to give her a big hug.

"Thank you for coming," Liz whispered in his ear knowing that he had a standing invitation to spend Thanksgiving with Maria's family and he could've just as easily chosen to escape their mother this Thanksgiving.

"I wouldn't leave you alone," Michael replied.

Liz's arms tightened with gratitude around him and she was smiling as he pulled away. Wearily meeting Max's eyes, Liz said, "I didn't know you were coming."

"Elizabeth," Nancy hard voice interjected before Max had a chance to open his mouth. "That's no way to speak to a guest."

Liz snapped irritated eyes to her mother and said defensively, "I was just saying-"

Nancy turned to Max with a polite smile, her words cutting Liz's off, "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with her today."

Her words ripped through Liz's heart with humiliation and hurt. Her fists tightened along her sides and she bit down hard on her bottom lip to prevent herself from fleeing in tears.

Max's eyes briefly wandered in Liz's direction and his attention was only briefly on Mrs. Parker when he responded, "No, that's okay. I must've taken her by surprise. She didn't know I was going to be here."

Nancy's smile was a tad more strained as she said, "Oh well." Gesturing with her manicured thin hands in her daughter's direction, Nancy commanded, "Elizabeth, come and say 'hello'."

Feeling like she was three years old, Liz's shoulders slumped as she with heavy feet walked up to Max, making sure not to get too close. Her eyes briefly looked up into his, but the look in his eyes had her quickly look away before the sympathy so evident in his gaze would make her lose the tight control on her emotions.

"Hello, Max," Liz sighed and saw Max grin out of the corner of her eye.

"Hello, _Elizabeth_," Max answered with a tone of mockery that Liz had a feeling her mother would not take notice of.

Before she had a chance to react, Max hand was against her back sending a shiver down to the very tips of her toes, urging her body slightly closer to his. He leaned down to press a greeting kiss on her cheek, but Liz misread his directions and in her distress turned her face towards him rather than away, causing his lips to end up on the corner of her mouth instead of on her cheek.

Her next breath stilled in her chest as she froze on the spot; every nerve ending in her lips being utterly and completely aware of the warmth of his lips as it spread currents of enticing electricity down the side of her face, tickling her lips and tempting the muscles in her neck to turn her head so that she could feel his lips completely against hers.

It only lasted a second before he pulled away. His eyes were searching and emotional as they locked with hers and she exhaled the breath she had been holding, trying to keep herself steady on her feet.

Her fists tightened along her sides and she attempted a smile, which fell flat on her face. _Christ, pull yourself together!_

His voice was low enough that only she could hear him as he whispered huskily, "You okay there, Parker?"

"What are you doing here?" she whispered back, the words scratching against her suddenly dry throat.

He shrugged, cocking his head to the side in interested amusement. "It was either this or the TV."

She narrowed her eyes. "Should've picked the TV."

Leaning slightly forward, his voice dropped another octave as he murmured, "But then I would've missed out on watching you."

Warmth spread through her body and she opened her mouth to retaliate, when Nancy interrupted them. "Let's move into the dining room."

Liz almost jumped at the sound of her mother's voice, having momentarily forgotten that she was not alone with Max. Max had the uncanny ability to make her do that.

The slight jump in Max's features, however, told Liz that she might not be the only one guilty of forgetting their surroundings.

With an almost audible snap, Liz straightened her spine and walked into the direction of the dining room, leaving Max to stare at her retreating figure.

* * *

"Michael," Nancy said, breaking the silence that had descended on the table at the arrival of the food, "How's the new job?"

"It's great," Michael answered before shoving another mouthful of turkey into his mouth. To Nancy's appall, his next words were spoken around that same mouthful, "The people working there are fantastic."

Nancy attempted a smile, trying to see beyond the table manners of her son. "That's really good, honey."

Chewing away, Michael nodded. "Yeah, it's great."

Liz started to make herself look busy by refolding her napkin to avoid the question she knew was coming. But Nancy's piercing eyes eventually landed on her daughter, something Liz could feel even though she was determined to stare down at the table surface.

"How's school, Elizabeth?"

Sliding the stuffing around on her plate with her fork, Liz answered, "Good."

"Don't play with your food, honey," Nancy said.

Liz bit her bottom lip and slowly put the fork down on the plate.

"Aren't you hungry?" Nancy implored.

Liz shrugged. "I don't have much of an appetite today."

"Is something wrong?"

Three pairs of eyes snapped to Nancy in surprise. Not that she never uttered a word of concern, it was more that she rarely showed any concern about Liz.

Unsure how to deal with this situation, Liz blinked, "I'm fine, mother."

"You're not pregnant, are you?"

Michael's fork dropped with a loud 'clink' against the plate, Max pretended to be very interested in covering all sides of his piece of turkey in the gravy and Liz blanched while her mouth fell open.

Staring at her mother in disbelief, Liz's voice was tense and irritated as she wondered if she had heard correctly. "What?"

"You've been moody lately," Nancy said, causing color to slowly rise on Liz's cheeks.

"I haven't been-"

"And all the cookies you've been eating," Nancy continued.

Liz gave a short humorless laugh, looking at Michael for help. But he was just staring at her. Her gaze inched towards Max who was eating like he hadn't heard a thing. Feeling the coldness spread through each cell of her body, her voice was dry as she said, "I haven't had more than usual."

"You look like you're filling out your clothes more," Nancy remarked.

Almost being past humiliation right now, Liz was struggling between leaving the room and clawing her mother's eyes out. "How dare-"

A ring tone interrupted Liz and looking towards the sound, she met Max's sheepish smile. "Sorry." Pushing out of his chair, he put the phone to his ear while he mouthed another 'sorry' to Nancy.

"She's not pregnant, mom," Michael said as Liz watched Max disappear from the room.

"Are you aware of how much a child would ruin your future right now?" Nancy continued.

Liz sighed. "I'm not pregnant."

The familiar Nokia sms-notification tone followed her words, causing Nancy's face to harden in disapproval as Liz reached for her cell phone.

"Elizabeth, we do not have our phones on during dinner."

"Sorry," she mumbled, frowning as she saw the sender ID.

_Meet me in your room._

Anger she was barely restraining slowly bubbled to the surface. Deciding not to answer, she turned the sound off and put the cell phone away.

"Who is this boy anyway?" Nancy asked.

Liz sighed tiredly. "His name is Sean."

"How come I haven't met him yet?"

The phone vibrated on her lap, announcing the arrival of a new message. With only part of her attention on her mother, Liz mumbled, "Because I didn't want you to ask him to not knock me up," as she opened her message.

_Come on. You know you want to._

Liz missed Nancy's dismayed gasp as her thoughts were occupied by the internal battle of answering Max's message or not.

"Of course I wouldn't ask him that!"

"I don't know, mother," Liz said without looking up as she chose 'reply' on the phone, "You just humiliated me in front of a non-family member. How do I know you won't do that in front of my boyfriend?"

_You're pissing my mom off. She doesn't like phones at the table._

"I'm only looking out for you, Elizabeth," Nancy said and with a raised voice added, "Elizabeth! Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Reluctantly, Liz looked up and as she did she felt the phone vibrate on her lap with another message. "What, mother?"

"Don't use that tone with me."

"You used that tone with me," Liz said evenly and glanced down at the message.

_Say it's an emergency. You really need to make a phone call. Make something up._

"All I wanted to know was if you are being careful with him," Nancy said, looking appropriately wounded.

Liz fought the temptation to roll her eyes. Sometimes her mother was embarrassingly transparent.

"I know how to use protection," Liz said tightly. She really didn't want to discuss this in front of her big brother. She didn't want to discuss this, period. What have ever given her mother the idea that she needed a lecture about sex and birth control at the age of 19?

Her fingers moving easily across the buttons, she answered Max; _What are you up to?_

"Is he treating you alright?" Nancy wondered.

"Mother, please," Michael said. "I think that's enough."

"Gee, Mike," Liz murmured. "A little bit late, but thanks."

"Why are you in such a foul mood?" Nancy asked.

Her phone vibrated again and Liz clutched it like a lifeline.

_Just come._

The prospect of going into a room with Max was frightening in its own spectacular unfamiliarity, but staying in a room with her mother was even more daunting.

Nancy and Michael looked up at her in surprise as she pushed the chair backwards. "I have to make a phone call."

"In the middle of dinner?" Nancy said incredulously. "Oh no, you don't."

"Is everything okay?" Michael wondered, having seen her sending messages on her phone.

"Something's happened," Liz lied. "It's an emergency. I have to call Sean."

Catching onto the concern in her son's voice, Nancy changed tracks. "Is he okay?"

Liz mustered up a smile for her mother, needing the lie to run over smoothly. "I hope he is. I just really need to talk to him."

"Of course, honey," Nancy said, true worry in her eyes that had a pang of guilt move through Liz's heart before she nodded and turned towards the stairs.

Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears as she ascended the steps and her hand was shaking as she pushed open the slightly ajar door to her room.

Max was sitting on her bed.

As she stepped inside, he looked up at her with a half-smile that had her faltering in her beliefs that leaving the table had been the wisest decision.

"You're difficult to convince," he said.

She looked at him cautiously, staying close to the door which put ultimate distance between them. "What do you want?"

"Maybe you should thank me," he said simply.

Her eyes narrowed. "Thank you for what?"

"For pulling you out of there," he replied with an air of obviousness.

"I didn't think you noticed," Liz said tightly, "You seemed so engrossed in your turkey."

Raising an eyebrow, he dropped his head to follow the movement of his finger tracing the white bed cover of her bed. "I haven't been in your room since we were little."

She frowned. "Okay?"

"It feels different," he said softly.

Not really sure why, her heart skipped a beat and she inhaled deeply. "Max, what-"

"You should tell her off," Max said and Liz blinked. It would be a miracle if Max could stick to one topic for longer than one minute.

"Yeah, like that's easy," Liz said sarcastically and left the safety of the door. Walking up to her bookshelf she absent-mindedly ran her index finger along the back of some of her favorite books.

She heard the unmistakable shuffle of Max standing from his position, but still she nearly jumped out of her skin when his front brushed against her back.

"Max…" she whispered, her finger freezing against the back of _Pride and Prejudice_.

She moaned softly as his lips pressed into the joining curve between her shoulder and her neck, her body fighting with the dilemma of staying or walking away.

"I miss you," he whispered against her skin.

"Don't," she said softly.

"Does it make it easier for you to push me away if you keep telling yourself that it was just sex?"

It was difficult to concentrate as his warm breath caressed her skin. "I don't want to talk about that."

"Will you ever talk about it?"

The last time they'd had this conversation, they had been yelling. Liz didn't want to do that now. Not after what had just happened at dinner with her mother. She didn't have the energy to fight with Max. But unfortunately, if that was what it took to get him to understand, then so be it.

Taking a step to the side, away from his body, she turned to face him. "I don't want to do this now, Max. Please."

His gaze was so penetrating she had to avert her eyes. "It wasn't just for fun."

She sighed. "Could we please stop repeating this conversation?"

He stepped closer to her, trapping her between the bookshelf and his body. His eyes were almost hard as he said passionately, "Not until you get it."

"I get it," she mumbled, trying to stop her body from trembling; from betraying her.

He shook his head slowly before leaning in closer. Large brown slightly frightened eyes looked into hot black eyes as their shallow breaths touched the same air.

"No, you don't," his husky voice whispered against her lips.

She swallowed. "Leave me alone, Max. I'm with Sean now."

"Does it feel the same?" he asked darkly.

Her heart missed a beat and she asked even though she knew exactly what he meant, "What are you talking about?"

As he raised his hand and let his fingers feather down the side of her face, she struggled to stop her eyes from closing. "The way he touches you…"

There was not enough air in her lungs to produce an answer and so her body merely shivered, the tremble making their bodies brush against the other, causing his pupils to dilate, his gaze growing darker.

His index finger slid down across her lips and she went rigid, her complete attention on the sensation of his finger against her lips. Her heart was beating uncontrollably in her chest and she was starting to feel dizzy.

"The way he kisses you," he murmured and his lips brushed lightly over hers, just the slightest touch, enough to make her body feel weak.

"Don't," she repeated faintly.

"He doesn't?" Max asked just as softly, twisting her words with a touch of amusement.

Fuzzily, she caught onto his teasing and mumbled, "Stop it, Max."

"Does he make you feel like I made you feel?"

"Get over yourself," Liz said in a tone that was meant to be venomous but was bordering more on dreamy, the soft emotions of his touch coursing through her body, distorting her voice.

"I know I'm good," Max said, the ever present arrogance seeping into the conversation. That was his way of making sure that whatever she said wouldn't hurt him too much. "That's what I've heard."

Placing her hands on his chest, she forcefully pushed him away. He took a step back and looked at her with a curious expression. "What, Parker, I'm making you feel things you're not comfortable with? Especially not when you have a boyfriend?"

She looked at him darkly. "See? That's why I can't believe you." She watched his expression fall, regret creeping into his eyes when he realized his mistake. "Because you make comments like that. Comments that make me feel like just another girl and that I was lucky to be screwed by you. As if you're this God's gift to women or something."

"Kitten," he said softly, regretfully, "That's not what-"

"Mother and Mike must be wondering where we are," Liz cut him off. Her voice was cold and business-like as she continued, "I suggest you wait a while before returning. It'd probably look a bit suspicious if we come back at the same time."

His hand reached out for her but she danced out of his reach. "Liz, let me ta-"

She turned fiery eyes on him and said forcefully, "I'm with Sean. Why can't you just leave me alone? What are you trying to prove by all of this? If you're trying to make a conquest out of me, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that won't happen. I made that mistake once, I won't do it again. Now leave me alone."

"Fuck," Max cursed softly as she disappeared out the room. How had he managed to push her away again?

TBC...


	45. Happy Birthday, Max

**44. Happy Birthday, Max**

**Max's apartment**

**July 2nd, one day before Max's birthday**

**(2009) Max is 23 (going on 24), Liz is 23**

Max stopped shortly inside the door, unused keys dangling from his hand completely forgotten as his jaw became slack and his eyes scanned the dark apartment.

From the unlocked door, he already knew that Liz was here, but the mixture of darkness and occasional candles flickering around the room had anticipation fluttering in his chest. It was not unusual for Liz to spend her nights at his place, more than willing to avoid the tension between her and her brother at their apartment, but the darkness was anything but usual.

"Lizzie?" he asked, wincing as his voice echoed too loudly in the quiet room.

He frowned as he put the keys on the kitchen counter. What was she up to?

"Parker? You're here?"

Instinctively knowing where to go, he pushed the bedroom door open and poked his head inside. The warm yellow hue of burning candles swam before his vision again and he had to squint to make out her quiet shape in the semi-darkness.

She was on the bed, her body pulled together in one of his football sweaters that had the ability to drown her tiny shape. Her head resting against her pulled up knees she looked up at him with tears hanging off her dark eyelashes. The tears on her cheeks threw a reflection towards him in the humble lightning and his heart skipped a beat.

His gym bag slid off his shoulder to the floor by its own force and Max was crawling across the expanse of the bed towards Liz before she had the chance to take her next breath.

Red eyes blinked closed as he put his hand against her wet cheek, concerned fingers trailing down the flushed skin.

"What's wrong?" he whispered, concern fluttering against each syllable.

"It's just…" Liz mumbled and then shook her head. "It's nothing."

His expression sharpened further with concern. "Why are you crying?"

She shook her head, her closed eyes avoiding his concern which would only make her start to cry again. After one hour of crying, she had almost managed to establish a state of control. She was not going to let this ruin the night. She'd had plans for tonight.

His hands pushed her hair away, his thumbs brushing along her hairline and edging her head backwards, forcing her to look up at him. "Did something happen today?"

Pushing his hands away, causing him to rest back on his heels, Liz brushed the tears off her cheeks and looked up at him with an overly optimistic expression that only served to further dig the worry into Max's heart. "I'm fine. I just had a breakdown or something. I just needed to let it out. And I've done that now. I'm fine."

Max took one long look at her, noticed the pain and unspoken sorrow in her eyes, before easing her into his lap. Her thighs encased his as her soft body folded itself against his. Curling up against his chest, she inhaled deeply, letting his arms envelope her and immerse her in safety.

"I know that you love your brother," Max said softly against her ear, his voice edged with possessiveness, "but if something he said made you feel this way, I'm gonna-"

Before he could work himself into an angry knot, Liz interrupted, "It's not Mike."

He relaxed, relieved that he didn't have to put himself between Liz and Michael again, but confusion at what had happened itched the edges of his mind.

Before he could open his mouth to utter his next question, Liz pulled away, angrily brushing her face free of tears. "You know what? I'm not gonna let her win. She's not gonna destroy this for me."

He looked up at her as she rose on her knees in front of him, brushing her hair away from her face in a cathartic manner, taking deep breaths and rubbing her cheeks free of tears. "Who?"

"There's nothing wrong with me," she said, speaking more to herself than to Max.

His hands moved back and forth along the sides of her thighs, not really concentrating on what he was doing, his motion an automatic gesture in trying to calm her down. "Of course nothing's wrong with you."

Liz's breath hitched and she stilled as she became aware of the heating of her skin being created by the friction of Max's palms gliding repeatedly across her naked skin where the sweater failed to cover her up.

Her eyes met his and he stilled at the raw expression in her eyes. His fingers paused and seemed to melt into the softness of her skin as his eyes traveled from the dark hungry look in her eyes to her moist lips.

"I had it all planned," she whispered, her breathless voice surprising both of them.

There was caution in his movements as his hands moved up the sides of her thighs, still underneath the sweater. His breaths were burning the insides of his airways, his hands trembling with barely contained desire. "What, kitten?"

His heartbeat came to an abrupt stop as his fingers encountered lace underneath the sweater. With a stumbling triple beat, his heart re-started and his eyes widened as he looked into her eyes; the understanding clear in his eyes even though he wasn't sure he dared to believe it.

Wrapping his hands around her hips, his fingers digging possessively into her pliable flesh, he pulled her back onto his lap with a strong tug. She gasped at the sudden movement, a thrill running through her as her chest brushed against his. Their breaths mingled together as a slow smile spread across Max's lips, his eyes burning into her trembling lips with anticipation of their taste. "What are you up to, Parker?"

"Well," she whispered, her voice shallow against the heat of his hands curling around her back. "There's a reason for the candles, you know."

As if he had no idea what she was talking about, his eyes widened in interested surprise. "Is there?"

His hands continued to travel across the expanse of her naked back, occasionally encountering areas of lace, trying to map a picture in his mind of whatever she was hiding underneath that oversized sweater of his.

She nodded seriously. "It's your birthday tomorrow."

A slow seductive smile spread across his lips causing her body to flush with hungry lust, and her body tensed with anticipation as firm pressure against her shoulder blades pushed her flush against him.

"Oh yes," he murmured, as if this was something new, "that's right."

He dropped his head; the stubble on his cheek brushing against her flushed one as his lips brushed against the junction between her neck and shoulder. A soft moan drifted across her lips.

"Only two hours to go," she got out in a breathless whisper as Max's lips drifted teasingly, slowly, across her skin. Tracing the outlines of the collar of the sweater.

"Are the candles my birthday present?" Max whispered, causing vibrations to entice her skin.

She arched her head backwards and Max immediately took advantage of her new position, by trailing his lips across the front of her throat up to her chin. Her voice was strained as she responded, "They're part of it."

"Mmm," he said against her skin. "I like the sound of that."

"Max," she whispered, a whining quality to her voice caused him to smile against her skin. "You're destroying my plan."

She immediately cursed herself for saying too much as he almost instantaneously pulled away and looked at her curiously. "What's your plan?"

Liz swallowed. Her throat felt dry and goosebumps covered every single millimeter of her body. "It's a surprise."

Ever so slowly, with a crooked smile trailing across his lips and eyes watching her intently, Max let his hands slide down her body the same way they had come from. Liz's body tensed with sexual expectation, arching up against his chest, pressing her aching lower body close against his, as his fingers teased their way down her willing partly exposed skin.

An eyebrow raised in question and his head cocked to the side as he withdrew his hands from underneath the sweater. "What do you have in mind?"

She looked at him, the insides of her bare thighs quivering against the warmth of his jeans-clad muscular thighs, and bit her lower lip as sudden insecurity draped over her.

The sight of her transparent vulnerability melted his heart and his eyes softened. "Will I like this present?"

The purpose of the question was to soothe her nerves and make her more comfortable to precede, so he was not prepared for the confusion he felt as her eyes dropped from his and with two hands against his chest for support she started to slide off his body.

His hands wrapped themselves around her wrists resting against his chest and he bent his head downwards so that his gaze could capture her evading one. "Liz?"

Taking a deep breath and squeezing her eyes together she started to shake her head. "It's silly."

He let her go as she further removed herself from his body, staring at her as she walked off the bed and straightened out the sweater so that it once again fell to cover her body to her knees.

"What is it?" he wondered, watching her hands tremble as she brushed them through her dark hair.

"This was Maria's idea," she mumbled avoiding his eyes.

He straightened, following each nervous movement of her body intently. "The candles?"

She bit her lower lip anxiously. "Not just the candles. The present. Your present." Taking a deep breath, her voice quivered slightly as she added, "Maria took me shopping and it all sounded great when we were planning it. I came home and I lit all this candles and…and I…" a faint blush colored her cheeks as she looked towards the ceiling in embarrassment, "I wanted to look attractive…sexy…"

His voice was soft, his eyes burning as he mumbled, "Liz…"

"Then she called and…" She inhaled deeply, her eyes squeezing close to stop the next round of tears. "She made me feel stupid. And ugly and…"

Her voice trailed off as he moved from the bed, taking a seat on the edge in front of her. A surprised gasp was squeezed from her chest as his strong hands took a firm grip on her hips and pulled her into the circle of his legs. Looking up at her, he looked almost angry as he said tensely, "You're not ugly. You're stunning."

Her body stilled and she looked at him in surprised shock. "Max, I-"

"Who told you that?" he asked, already planning to find this person and tell her a thing or two about how much she was about to regret ever making his girl cry.

She swallowed, a tear rolling down her cheek. "My mother."

He sighed and pulled her body close to his while he pressed his head against her abdomen. His comment was muffled as Liz's hands automatically reached down to slide through his dark hair, which was damp from the shower he had taken at the gym. "I hate that woman."

"I know I should ignore what she says, but she's-"

He looked up at her sadly and nodded in understanding, "-your mother."

She grimaced. "Exactly."

"She's wrong, you know. Whatever she said, she's wrong."

Liz smiled sadly. "How can you be so sure that everything she said is wrong?"

He looked at her seriously. "Because she doesn't see you."

Her eyes warmed and she asked gently, "Like you?"

Max nodded. "Uh-huh."

She exhaled tiredly. "I hate that she ruined my night."

He shook his head in protest. "It's not ruined."

"I feel stupid," she whispered. "I was supposed to…" a warm blush that went straight to his heart spread across her cheeks as she quickly mumbled the end of that sentence, "seduce you."

Warmth hit his heart and he felt his chest overfill with love. "You still have time."

She almost rolled her eyes at him, an amused smile playing across her lips as she contained the temptation to throw herself at him and kiss him senseless. "You really want me to?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "Hell yeah."

She laughed, shaking her head in disbelief. "Well… I did shop for it."

Desire tightened his body as he watched her step away from his body. Smiling shyly, causing his heart to constrict, she reached for the bottom of the sweater and slowly trailed it upwards.

She looked so nervous that he almost reached out to stop her, but he was afraid that would send the wrong message. That she would think he didn't want her to continue.

As her movements started to reveal dark red lace underneath the shapeless sweater, his fists tightened around the mattress to prevent himself from rising to his feet and assisting her in removing that sweater from her body.

With two hands she pulled the sweater over her head, revealing the lacy panties, the matching lacy bra and the transparent veil attached to the bottom border of the bra, floating sensually around her soft curves.

Max's breath caught in his throat.

She was gorgeous. Heart-stopping, outrageously stunning. The sexiest part was that she had no idea of just how sexy she was standing there nervously clenching her fists and worrying her bottom lip.

"Kitten," he breathed.

The emotion in his eyes overwhelmed her and she reached for the discarded sweater, stuttering, "It's stupid."

Max shot up from his seat and grabbed the hand that was reaching for the safety of the sweater, pulling her hand towards his and effectively pulling her up against him.

"Damn Lizzie," he murmured, his eyes eating her up. "Are you trying to kill me?"

She looked at him, bewildered, "I'm sorry…" wondering if she had done something wrong.

He chuckled and shook his head. "You wear clothes that alone have the capacity to give me a heart attack only to seconds later decide to cover yourself up again."

She smiled softly. "I don't look stupid?"

He rolled his eyes, before cradling her face and placing heated lips against hers, pouring every ounce of desire and love into that one kiss.

They broke apart gasping, Liz fumbling for a hold on his arms to stop herself from stumbling, and Max winked at her. "_That's_ how you make me feel."

She took a deep breath and nodded, dropping her eyes to fumble with the front of his T-shirt.

"You okay?" he asked softly.

"I'm nervous," she asked truthfully, causing his heart beat to falter once again. She never failed to surprise him.

His voice was gentle as he asked, "Why are you nervous?"

Her cheeks blushed the warmest of colors. "_I'm_ your birthday present, Max."

Max inhaled deeply, his steady grip on the floor faltering. His voice was lacking in strength as he tried to put words on how much that meant to him. "That's more than I could ever wish for."

She nodded, still afraid to meet his eyes. "It's just… this is the first time since…you know, the last time."

Not being able to contain himself any longer, he leaned in and gently captured her lips with his. His words were merely a whisper but shot straight into her heart. "I love you."

She nodded, the emotions rendering her speechless. "I'm scared."

Max frowned. "Why?"

"Last time was just sex-"

"It wasn't just sex."

Liz looked up at him, seriousness drowning her expression. "We were drunk-"

"_You_ were drunk, sweetie."

Her eyes darkened and he got a glimpse of the rebellious girl he was so used to. "Are you trying to say that you were completely sober?"

"You were really drunk," Max smiled.

"So were you," she countered stubbornly.

"You were worse."

"Come on, you were just as bad."

"_I_ had some self control."

She looked at him incredulously. "Was that before or after you attacked me?"

His mouth fell open in shock. "I did _not_ attack you."

She smiled, a twinkle in her eye. "No?"

Max's eyes narrowed as he noticed the mischievous smile play on her lips. "You provoked me."

It was now Liz's turn to be shocked. She blinked. "I provoked you?"

"You were comparing me to some other guy."

"Awww." Her mouth pouted as she leaned in and patted his head, her act the picture of innocence, but in response Max's groin tightened with desire. This woman had no idea how sexy she was and how deeply she affected him. She was totally unaware of the power she held over him. "Did my big bad words bruise your ego?"

She had a chance to see the miniscule narrowing of his eyes a second before his attack.

Pushing himself to his feet so rapidly it almost made her dizzy, Liz inhaled sharply as he was suddenly towering over her, his body exuding dangerous sexuality.

She didn't even have time to follow the temptation to lick her lips before his fingers curled forcefully through her hair and with a sharp tug snapped her towards him, their lips meeting in an explosion of sensations. Melting into his touch, her hands moved restlessly across the front of his shirt, while his hands moved down her neck, following the curve of her back while leaving a trail of fire in their wake.

She didn't notice how he moved their entwined bodies up against the wall until her back pressed up against the hard unyielding material.

Max's hands slid down the sides of her body, brushing along the sensitive skin of her thighs before encircling the flesh in his hands and hefting her upwards. Liz followed his silent directions, wrapping her legs around his hips.

"You have no idea how sexy you are, do you?" he murmured against her lips.

In the midst of the heavy sexual atmosphere, Liz almost rolled her eyes and said disbelievingly, "Come on."

He grabbed a hold of her hand and brought it to the front of his jeans, where her appearance and innocent sexuality had worked its magic. Her sharp inhalation got stuck in her throat and she stared into his challenging eyes. "Still don't believe it?"

Taking a shuddering breath, which was followed by a nervous swallow, Liz moved her hand slightly upwards, the slow brush of her fingers causing Max's breathing to falter as well. Reaching the top of his jeans, she manipulated the button out of the button hole and took a hold of the zipper. The slow caress of her tongue across her lips signaled her nervousness as she slowly pulled the zipper down.

"Relax," Max whispered softly, with his own heart hammering in his ears.

A weak smile tickled her lips as she nodded slowly at the same time as she brought her hand up along the outer seam of his boxers. With the thick denim material out of the way, her touch almost had him losing his grip on her.

A tad too forcefully, he pushed her harder up against the wall to keep them from falling, causing her to gasp and her exploring hand to press firmly against him. He pressed his forehead against her, fighting for control with shallow breaths.

"I love you," he said breathlessly.

Her hand whispered up underneath his sweater, encountering the firmness of his chest. She sighed. God, she loved his body.

"And I you," she whispered back, tugging on his sweater to make it move upwards.

He put an inch or two between their entwined bodies so that she could pull the sweater over his head, facing her with the glorious expanse of his naked chest.

She stared at his chest and mumbled, "God."

Max kissed the tip of her nose before pulling back and asking seriously, "What?"

"You're so…" Liz shook her head in disbelief, "…_freaking hot_."

He laughed at her exclamation, causing her to smile along with him and her nervousness faded some. He kissed her smiling lips. "That's what I've been trying to tell you for years. You just wouldn't believe me."

"Funny," she mumbled, lost in the details of his chest. She was being held up by Max's hips supporting her thighs, the wall he was pressing her up against, and his arms pressing into the sides of her body, leaving her own arms completely free to do what they wanted.

She wanted to touch every part of his body, kiss every inch of his skin. The need was burning strong inside of her and she had a suspicion that she had already lost her control of the situation. She was no longer the seductress; she was now the one being seduced.

As her hands moved slowly across his bare chest, Max used his thumbs, while the rest of his hands grabbed her firmly so she wouldn't fall, to part the silky veil hanging from the bottom of her bra. His hands itched to touch her soft skin. But he knew that touching would very soon not be enough.

Liz laughed in exhilarated laughter as he spun them around and they fell onto the bed in a bundle of limbs. Her laughter slowly quieted until it disappeared as Max stilled above her, looking down at her with serious eyes.

A smile remaining on her face, she asked softly, "What?"

"Still nervous?" he wondered and the intensity of his gaze had a current of pure heat course through her.

"I really want it be perfect," she answered.

His eyes turned amused. "Keeping the pressure up, huh?"

She shook her head slowly. "Sorry, it's not like that-"

His gentle smile interrupted her. "I know what you mean." As he spoke, his hands parted the veil yet again, baring her abdomen to him. She momentarily looked down at what his hands were doing, before glancing up at him again as he spoke. "I want it to be perfect too." He lowered his head and placed the most gentle of kisses in the center of her abdomen, just above her bellybutton. "I don't want to disappoint you-"

"You couldn't disappoint me," she objected quietly, her hands tightening in their hold on the sheet on either side of her body to stop them from attacking him and pulling him even closer.

His lips trailed slowly up the middle of her abdomen, causing her breathing to turn almost non-existent and her body to writhe in pent-up anticipation, stopping only when he reached the lace of her bra.

"I mean," he continued as if he hadn't heard her words, "we had that one perfect night-"

Her smile was evident in her voice, "You think it was perfect?"

He lifted his head from worshipping her body and met her eyes, his stare piercing and filled with emotions that sent a tremble down to the center of her body. "It was perfect."

"I wasn't too…" she bit her lower lip, feeling the nervousness again now that he was looking at her, "…inexperienced?"

"Well…" he said, a slow smile spreading across his lips, which had her eyes narrowing and before he could put words to what his teasing silence was already saying a disapproving expression fell upon Liz's beautiful features.

"Max Evans," she said with clear warning, causing Max to smile. He knew exactly what game he was playing.

So did she.

"There was a certain level of…innocence," Max said slowly, his voice deep and soft, caressing her very soul, making it hard for her to be angry with him as the familiar waves of desire flooded her senses.

She barely felt his expert hands behind her back, unclasping her bra, instead gasping in surprise as the familiar support loosened around her breasts while the air chilled the skin Max's hands were slowly exposing to his eyes.

"Which was incredibly…" he pulled the bra straps free from her arms and threw the undergarment on the floor, his eyes traveling to her exposed breasts, "….sexy."

She shivered beneath his eyes, her breast rising in a deep intake of air, the movement causing Max's eyes to widen with hunger and Liz's heart to flutter weakly underneath her left hardening nipple.

"You found me not knowing what to do 'sexy'?" Liz asked, trying to sound incredulous, but the sensation of his wet lips encircling her nipple making it anything but incredulous.

"Oh, you knew what to do," he whispered, sound waves vibrating against her breast.

"God," she moaned, her fingers in his hair, sliding through the damp tresses with a desperate need to hold onto something.

"You were not all that innocent with alcohol in your system, sweetie," Max said, sliding his chest up against hers as he caught her lips with his.

Her breath pushed out in a staccato motion as she clung to his lips, her thighs moving up to press against the sides of his body, trapping him between her legs.

"Maybe that's what I need," she said between kisses. "Booze."

His hands slid behind her back yet again, this time to move them into sitting position as he sat back on his knees, pulling her with him. Brushing her tousled hair away from her flushed cheeks, he placed one kiss on each cheek and finished with one on the tip of her nose. "If I hadn't been so drunk myself, I probably would've listened more to the warning bells."

Catching onto the seriousness in his voice, she frowned, her hands moving slowly up and down the warm skin of his back. "What do you mean?"

Giving her a gentle smile, Max answered, "You _were_ absolutely perfect, kitten. But I knew at the back of my head that something was off. You didn't act like someone that'd had sex before."

Looking at him seriously, Liz whispered, "Would you have stopped? If you had listened?"

He barely hesitated before nodding.

She wasn't sure how to feel about that. "So if you had known I was a virgin, you would never had let it go that far?"

His eyes begging her to not take it the wrong way, his reply was soft, "No."

She dropped her eyes and stared unseeingly at how her hands by their own force were sliding along his collarbone.

"Liz, listen," Max said. "I wanted your first time to be with someone you loved. So I would never have done that to you if I had known. Because I wanted all the typical romantic stuff for you. I wanted your first time to be…" he gestured to the surrounding flickers of the candle lights, "…this. Candles, a nice bed, with someone you loved. Someone you had decided to give your virginity to." He shook his head regretfully. "Not in a dark house, with someone you hated, while you were drunk."

She shook her head, a humorless smile on her lips. "I never hated you. I've loved you for longer than I wanted to admit. And that night, I really loved you. When you made love to me that night, I felt really loved. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

He looked guilty. "I still didn't want that for you. Even if you had feelings for me back then, you probably didn't want to end up in that situation with me and I shouldn't have used my…uhm…experience against you and used you that way just because I desperately wanted you."

She laughed softly, amused by how stupid they had been back then. "I wanted you too. I wanted you so much it scared me. So I drank more. And more. And then some."

"So I didn't scar you irreparably?" Max wondered without a trace of humor in his voice. That question had in fact haunted him for years. Ever since that night. Had he killed something in Liz that night by robbing her of that innocence? By robbing her of her choices?

She shook her head, reassurance bright in her eyes. "Apart from the fact that I was trying to kid myself into believing that it hadn't meant anything to me and that it had been a mistake, that night is very close to my heart. It still is."

The hint of a smile grazed his lips before he leaned in and tenderly kissed her. Pulling back he said quietly, "Thank you, Parker."

Looking down in chaste shyness that had his heart missing a beat, Liz asked, "Make love to me, Max?"

He smiled. God, how he loved her. And then she added, "I can't wait any longer," while looking up at him through dark eyelashes and his resolve broke.

Crashing her mouth to his he lowered her onto her back, kissing down her chin, continuing down her throat, trailing between her breasts and feathering down the middle of her stomach.

"Deal," he mumbled as he reached her bellybutton and she closed her eyes as the desire bordered on painful, needing him inside of her right that second or else she would very possibly spontaneously combust.

As his mouth moved past her bellybutton, his hands hooked into her panties and pulled them downwards, revealing the dark curls to his expecting mouth.

Her body trembled in a combination of desire and nervousness as his hands brushed up the insides of her thighs, being acutely aware of how his burning eyes kept their hold on her half-closed eyes, carefully watching her every reaction.

She inhaled sharply as he placed a butterfly kiss on her clitoris, which was followed by the slow stroke of his fingers through her lower lips and Liz thought she would die.

"No, just…" she gasped.

"What's that, kitten?" he whispered, mesmerized by the smell of her, needing to taste her so badly.

She impatiently waved her hands around, not sure what to do about all the sensations that had overtaken her body, not wanting him to stop but not sure she could survive him continuing either.

His tongue brushed against her bundle of nerves, causing Max to groan and Liz to moan as her back arched. His fingers sank into the pliable soft skin of her hips, possessively holding her in place as he slid his tongue through her wet folds, enjoying the sounds of pleasure escaping her lips.

"Where did you learn to…do…that?" Liz gasped.

A raised eyebrow that firmly told her 'do you really want to know that?' made her quickly add, "No, don't tell me."

He then replaced his tongue with a finger and she moaned, absent-mindedly thinking that she had been an idiot to not do this with him sooner. As he added another finger and moved them in and out a soft voice at the back of her head struggled through the desire clouding her mind and whispered that she could get addicted to this.

As her breaths increased along with his movements, she felt the fire collect in the pit of her abdomen, building and building, until the bottom fell out and his screamed name encased them as he pulled out of her and moved up her body, capturing her struggling breaths with his mouth.

He felt her smile against his mouth, her soft, content laughter brushing against his lips and he automatically smiled in response.

"Oh, you're good," she said, laughter tracing her words.

"I'm not done yet," he replied which had her shaking her head in disbelief as wondrous love shone out of her eyes.

"I love you so much," she whispered softly.

"Are you only saying that because I just gave you the biggest orgasm of your life?" Max wondered with a twinkle in his eye.

"Nah," she said with a light shake of her head, the numbing pleasure slowly allowing her nerves to register the feel of his naked skin against hers, awakening her desire yet again. "You're good for other things too."

"Good," he smiled, kissing down her jaw.

"I think you should take your pants off," she whispered into his ear as it passed by her lips.

Max smiled in interest. "Really?"

"Really," she replied. "It's unfair with just one of us being naked."

"I'm not complaining," Max said, his hands teasing her breasts.

"I know," she sighed in pleasure. "But I want you…inside of me."

At her words, he lifted his head and looked straight into her eyes, the surprise evident in his eyes with a completely different emotion darkening his gaze.

"Why, Miss Parker," he murmured, "I must say…" He teased her bottom lip with the tip of his tongue while his finger teasingly trailed across the wetness at the junction of her legs, causing her to press her lower body up against his hand. "I love it when you talk dirty."

She rolled her eyes since she knew _that_ was not really talking dirty by any standards, and teased her tongue around the shell of his ear, saying, "Why am I not surprised?"

"Because you're a naughty girl?" Max wondered with amused curiosity.

His words made her laugh, but the laughter ended on a determined note as she said, "Pants off. Now!"

"Charming," he murmured, but there was a hunger in his eyes as he rolled off her and rose to his feet next to the bed.

His stomach grumbled with desire as his eyes landed on her naked form on the bed. She had carefully followed his every move from the bed to the floor and now she was popping her head up to rest against her supporting elbow after having rolled onto her side.

A fresh blush rose over her cheeks as she realized what his starving eyes were surveying and her uppermost leg automatically fell down over the other, her knee covering her delicately.

Deciding not to comment on her newfound shyness, Max brought his hands to his already undone pants, courtesy of Liz Parker, and pushed them slowly down his muscular thighs stopping halfway to wriggle his eyebrows suggestively in her direction which had her blush turn a deeper red.

She had seen him naked before. This wasn't their first time.

Still it felt like it.

The situation had all of the newness, the awkwardness and shyness of a 'first time'. Even though Liz would always remember their first time like something beautiful, she didn't mind seeing this as a second first time.

He threw his pants to a corner of the room and they were quickly forgotten as they both focused their attention on his boxers. She bit her lower lip while watching him. Just as he was about to push them down, she moved into sitting position in front of him. The surprise was evident on his face as she reached out, the light from the candles flickering across her pale skin, and grabbed a hold of the front top of his boxer, pulling him towards the bed by the elastic material.

Licking her lips, she gazed up at him through her lashes. "Let me."

Suddenly speechless, Max swallowed and nodded.

She inched her fingertips inside the waistband of the boxers, moving slowly along the edge of the material while noticing his abdomen move with gradually increasing breaths out of the corner of her eye. She felt the hardness of his muscles underneath the skin, felt the goosebumps spread across her own skin as she pushed her small hands inside his boxers, brushing her palms flat over his ass.

His well-defined abdomen was at the level of her eyes and she simply leaned forward and pressed a kiss above his bellybutton, much the same way he had done earlier. As she hooked her thumbs over the upper edge of the boxers and started to inch them downwards, her lips slowly dragged along his abdominal muscles intermittently shaping her lips into small kisses along the trail.

As her hands moved his boxers down his legs, his hands trailed into her hair while his shallow breaths filled her ears. She pulled back from him slowly, taking a deep breath as her eyes fell on what her hands had just exposed.

Licking her lips, her hands left their tasks of removing his boxers, leaving the boxers at his knees, while she brought one curious hand to his member, hesitating for a second before her index finger touched him. It moved under her touch, causing her to look up at his face with fascinated wonder.

His eyes were closed, an expression of utter concentration furrowing his forehead. A slow smile spread across her lips and her attention returned to her exploration. She encircled him in her palm, marveling at the fullness of him while a thrill of anticipation rushed through her veins. Experimentally, she moved her palm up his shaft, her eyes flickering up to his face to watch his reaction.

This time, his eyes met hers full on and her heart stroke one strong beat.

"Jesus, Liz…" he groaned and her breath shuddered in her lungs.

Moving her hand again, she moved downwards and then upwards again, stroking him slowly and tantalizingly, causing Max's fingers in her hair, pressing against her scalp, to tighten.

She could feel him grow in her hand, getting even harder, which tempted her into increasing her speed. His hand over hers put a halt to her movements and she looked up at him in question.

His eyes were hooded, fully dilated, and his body was hot where it was touching hers. Removing his hand from his penis, he pulled her to her feet, pushing her up against his body.

She was starting to feel faint from all the sensations, not really sure how much more of this she could take. Before she had a chance to get stable on her feet, his mouth attacked hers with an intensity that put a serious dent in her heart beat. Suddenly she was on her back again, on the bed, his mouth still devouring hers, but now she could feel him in all of his naked glory brushing up against her while he laid between her legs.

One hand against her shoulder blades, he pushed her upper body up against his while in one stroke he pushed inside of her.

She gasped, her fingernails digging into his shoulders while his hand moved from her back to the back of her neck, melting their lips together. Her ankles locked into each other across his lower back as he pulled back only to immediately push back in again.

"Go faster," she partly begged, partly commanded.

His hands caught a hold of her upper arms, tugging until her nails came undone from his shoulders and he redirected her hands above her head, moving them into a restrained position against the pillow while he pushed into her again, his tempo adhering to her command.

Her body arched up and met his every stroke, feeling oddly aroused by the fact that he was possessively restraining her hands over her head, in a way controlling her body.

Sweat trickled down between her breasts in response to the heat building in her body. Goosebumps came and went across her skin as his skin brushed repeatedly against hers. As the friction of him inside of her started to reach its peak, she dug her heels into his ass, urging him on.

"I'm close," she said breathlessly.

As the last word left her mouth, he released her arms, put his hands against her back and pulled them into a seating position. The sudden change of position caused him to move deeper into her and she gasped at the new level of penetration, both of them freezing to acclimatize to the new sensation.

A tear rolled over the rim of her eye and down her cheek and Max brushed his hand up along her arm until he reached her cheek and gently pushed it away.

She sniffled, smiled and bent her head to kiss his lips. Pulling away, their gazes locked, and Liz placed her hands on his shoulders to cautiously lift herself upwards. His eyes flickered with unasked questions, with love and adoration, with passion and desire, as his hands tightened around her waist, pushing her back down. As they repeated the motion, they watched each other's expressions as their bodies slid into each other, once again working towards the final release.

She came hard, her body shaking with the orgasm and fatigue as he continued to move inside of her, lifting her body up and down until he found his own release only seconds thereafter.

Their bodies moved slowly against each other as they came down from the high, foreheads pressed tightly together, lazy kisses being placed on the closest patch of skin.

Tears were rolling down her cheeks as she tightened her arms and legs around him and pressed her cheek against his shoulder. His fingers brushed lightly up and down her spine, causing havoc to her body while he placed small kisses on her damp shoulder.

"Happy birthday," she whispered, her voice broken with emotion.

His arms encased her in a tight embrace as he pulled his head slightly backwards so that their mouths would line up. Kissing the tear tracks on her cheeks away, he finished with her sweet soft mouth that was swollen and full.

"You were perfect," he replied, eliciting a smile from her. "Absolutely extraordinary."

"You did a pretty good job yourself," she said and nuzzled her nose under his chin, pressing a slow kiss against the short stubble he was acquiring.

"Yeah, we should do it again," he answered.

"Uh-huh," she nodded against his skin. "What do you feel about…now?"

Being still inside of her, she could feel his answer before he put it into words.

She pulled back and looked at him in surprised shock. "Evans, I thought guys needed…recuperation or something."

He rolled his eyes, "Recuperation, schmuperation," and scooted them over to the edge of the bed where he with some impressive elegance managed to get them standing, Liz's legs tightly wrapped around his waist.

"We have a whole apartment to christen," he added with a mischievous smile.

She frowned, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Isn't that only when you've moved into a new place?"

He looked appropriately appalled. "Says who?"

A second thereafter, his foot caught hold of the threshold and he stumbled, falling into the wall which had her back slam into the hard material, while he pushed further into her causing her to gasp.

"This could be dangerous," Max mumbled.

Liz, still trying to catch her breath, ignored the whole danger factor and stated, "Let's start with the kitchen."

TBC...


End file.
